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FRANK R. STOCKTON 

Volume X 

MRS. CLIFF’S YACHT 






THE NOVELS AND STORIES OF 
FRANK R. STOCKTON 


MRS. CLIFF’S YACHT 



NEW YORK 

CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS 
1900 


f .*<»• 




TWO COPIES RECEIVED, 


Library of Congree* 
Office o f the 




APR 1 7 190” 




Register of Copyright* 



Copyright, 1896, 1900, by 
Charles Scribner’s Sons 


first copy, 

. \*>».\^ « 


THE DEVINNE PRES8. 


^ cA 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

i Alone with her Wealth ... 3 

ii Willy Croup doesn’t Know . . 10 

hi Miss Nancy Shott 19 

iv A Launch into a New Life . . 28 

v A Fur-trimmed Overcoat and a Silk 

Hat 38 

vi A Temperance Lark .... 47 

vii Mr. Burke Accepts a Responsibility . 60 

viii Mr. Burke Begins to Make Things 

Move in Plainton .... 70 

ix A Meeting of Heirs . . . .81 

x The Intellect of Miss Inchman . 93 

xi The Arrival of the New Dining- 
room 100 

xii The Thorpdyke Sisters . . . 110 

xiii Money-hunger 116 

xiv Willy Croup as a Philanthropic 

Diplomatist 123 

xv Miss Nancy Makes a Call . . . 131 

xvi Mr. Burke Makes a Call . . . 138 

xvii Mrs. Cliff’s Yacht 150 

vii 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 


CHAPTER 

xvm The Dawn of the Grove of the 

Incas 160 

xix The “ Summer Shelter ” . . . 166 

xx The Synod 173 

xxi A Telegram from Captain Horn . 178 
xxii The “Summer Shelter” Goes to 

Sea 187 

xxiii Willy Croup Comes to the Front . 197 

xxiv Changes on the “Summer Shel- 

ter ” 209 

xxv A Note for Captain Burke . . 224 

xxvi “We’ll Stick to Shirley” . . 234 

xxvii On Board the “Dunkery Beacon ” . 241 

xxviii The People on the “Monterey” . 253 

xxix The “Vittorio” from Genoa . . 260 

xxx The Battle of the Merchant 

Ships 270 

xxxi “She Backed ! ” 279 

xxxii A Head on the Water . . . 285 

xxxiii lio 30' 19" North Latitude by 

56° 10' 49" West Longitude . . 292 

xxxiv Plainton, Maine .... 304 



viii 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 




MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


CHAPTER I 

ALONE WITH HER WEALTH 

O UST a beautiful September afternoon, in a handsome 
room of one of the grand, up-town hotels in Hew 
York, sat Mrs. Cliff, widow and millionaire. 

Widow of a village merchant, mistress of an un- 
pretending house in the little town of Plainton, Maine, 
and, by strange vicissitudes of fortune, the possessor 
of great wealth, she was on her way from Paris to the 
scene of that quiet domestic life to which, for nearly 
thirty years, she had been accustomed. 

She was alone in the hotel. Her friends, Captain 
Horn and his wife Edna, who had crossed the ocean 
with her, had stayed but a few days in Hew York, and 
had left early that afternoon for Hiagara, and she was 
here by herself in the hotel, waiting until the hour 
should arrive when she would start on a night train 
for her home. 

Her position was a peculiar one, altogether new to 
her. She was absolutely independent. Hot only could 
she do what she pleased, but there was no one to tell 

3 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


her what it would be well for her to do, wise for her 
to do, or unwise. Everything she could possibly want 
was within her reach, and there was no reason why 
she should not have everything she wanted. 

For many months she had been possessed of enor- 
mous wealth, but never until this moment had she 
felt herself the absolute, untrammelled possessor of it. 
Until now Captain Horn, to whom she owed her gold, 
and the power it gave her, had been with her or had 
exercised an influence over her. Until the time had 
come when he could avow the possession of his vast 
treasures, it had been impossible for her to make known 
her share in them, and even after everything had been 
settled, and they had all come home together in the 
finest state-rooms of a great ocean liner, she had still 
felt dependent upon the counsels and judgment of her 
friends. 

But now she was left absolutely free and inde- 
pendent, untrammelled, uncounselled, alone with her 
wealth. 

She rose and looked out of the window, and, as she 
gazed upon the crowd which swept up and down the 
beautiful avenue, she could not but smile as she thought 
that she, a plain New England countrywoman, with 
her gray hair brushed back from her brows, with 
hands a little hardened and roughened with many a 
year of household duties, which had been to her as 
much a pleasure as a labor, was, in all probability, 
richer than most of the people who sat in the fine 
carriages or strolled in their fashionable clothes along 
the sidewalk. 

“If I wanted to do it,” she thought, “I could have 
one of those carriages with prancing horses and a 

4 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


driver in knee-breeches, or I could buy that house 
opposite, with its great front steps, its balconies, and 
everything in it. But there is nobody on this earth 
who could tempt me to live there.” 

“No,” said Mrs. Cliff to herself, as she turned from 
the window, and selecting a fresh easy-chair, sank 
down into its luxurious depths, u there is nothing in 
this world so delightful as to go back rich to Plainton. 
To be rich in Paris or New York is nothing to me. It 
would simply mean that I should be a common person 
there, as I used to be at home, and, for the matter of 
that, a little more common.” 

As the good lady’s thoughts wandered northward, 
and spread themselves from the railroad station at 
Plainton all over the little town, she was filled with a 
great content and happiness to go to her old home 
with her new money. This was a joy beyond any- 
thing she had dreamed of as possible in this world. 

But it was the conjunction of the two which pro- 
duced this delightful effect upon her mind. The 
money anywhere else, or Plainton without it, would 
not have made Mrs. Cliff the happy woman that she 
was. 

It pleased her to let her mind wander over the 
incidents of her recent visit to her old home, the most 
unhappy visit she had ever made in all her life, but 
everything that was unpleasant then would help to 
make everything more delightful in the present home- 
coming. 

She thought of the mental chains and fetters she 
had worn when she went to Plainton with plenty of 
money in her purse and a beautiful pair of California 
blankets in her handsome trunk ; when she had been 

5 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


afraid to speak of the one or to show the other ; when 
she had sat quietly and received charity from people 
whose houses and land, furniture, horses, and cows, 
she could have bought and given away without feel- 
ing their loss ; when she had been publicly berated by 
Nancy Shott for spending on luxuries money which 
should have been used to pay her debts ; when she 
had been afraid to put her money in the bank for fear 
it would act as a dynamite bomb and blow up the 
fortunes of her friends ; and when she could find no 
refuge from the miseries brought upon her by the 
necessity of concealing her wealth, except to go to bed 
and cover up her head so that she should not hear the 
knock of some inquiring neighbor upon her front door. 

Then, when she had made this background as dark 
and gloomy as it was possible to make it, she placed 
before it the glittering picture of her new existence 
in Plainton. 

But this new life, bright as it now appeared to her, 
was not to be begun without careful thought and 
earnest consideration. Ever since her portion of the 
golden treasure had been definitely assigned to her, 
the mind of Mrs. Cliff had been much occupied with 
plans for her future in her old home. 

It was not to be altogether a new life. All the 
friends she had in the world, excepting Captain and 
Mrs. Horn, lived in Plainton. She did not wish to 
lose these friends— she did not wish to be obliged to 
make new ones. With simple-minded and honest 
Willy Croup, who had long lived with her and for 
her, with Mrs. Perley, the minister’s wife, with all 
her old neighbors and friends, she wished to live as 
she had always lived, but, of course, with a difference. 

6 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


How to manage, arrange, and regulate that difference 
was the great problem in her mind. 

One thing she had determined upon : her money 
should not come between her and those who loved her 
and who were loved by her. No matter what she 
might do or what she might not do, she would not 
look down upon people simply because she was rich. 
And oh, the blessed thought which followed that ! 
There would be nobody who could look down upon 
her because she was not rich ! 

She did not intend to be a fine new woman. She did 
not intend to build a fine new house. She was going 
to be the same Mrs. Cliff that she used to be— she was 
going to live in the same house. To be sure, she would 
add to it. She would have a new dining-room, and a 
guest-chamber over it, and she would do a great 
many other things which were needed, but she would 
live in her old home, where she and her husband had 
been so happy, and where she hoped he would look 
down from heaven and see her happy until the end of 
her days. 

As she thought of the things she intended to do, and 
of the manner in which she intended to do them, Mrs. 
Cliff rose and walked the floor. She felt as if she were 
a bird— a common-sized bird, perhaps, but with enor- 
mous wings, which seemed to grow and grow the more 
she thought of them, until they were able to carry her 
so far and so high that her mind lost its power of 
directing them. 

She determined to cease to think of the future, of 
what was going to be, and to let her mind rest and 
quiet itself with what really existed. Here she was 
in a great city full of wonders and delights, of com- 

7 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


forts, conveniences, luxuries, necessities, and all within 
her power. Almost anything she could think of she 
might have. Almost anything she wanted to do she 
might do. A feeling of potentiality seemed to swell 
and throb within her veins. She was possessed of an 
overpowering desire to do something now, this mo- 
ment, to try the power of her wealth. 

Near her on the richly papered wall was a little 
button. She could touch this and order— what should 
she order? A carriage and prancing pair to take her 
to drive? She did not wish to drive. A cab to take 
her to the shops, or an order to merchants to send her 
samples of their wares, that here, in her own room, 
like a queen or a princess, she might choose what she 
wanted and think nothing of the cost? But no, she 
did not wish to buy anything. She had purchased 
in Paris everything that she cared to carry to 
Plainton. 

She went and stood by the electric button. She 
must touch it, and must have something ! Her gold 
must give her an instant proof that it could minister 
to her desires, but what should she ask for ? Her mind 
travelled over the whole field of the desirable, and yet 
not one salient object presented itself. There was 
absolutely nothing that she could think of that she 
wished to ask for at that moment. She was like a 
poor girl in a fairy-tale, to whom a good fairy comes 
and asks her to make one wish and it shall be granted, 
and who stands hesitating and trembling, not being 
able to decide what is the one great thing for which 
she should ask. 

So stood Mrs. Cliff. There was a fairy, a powerful 
fairy, in her service, who could give her anything she 

8 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


desired, and with all her heart she wanted to want 
something that minute. What should she want? 

In her agitation she touched the bell. Half fright- 
ened at what she had done, she stepped back and sat 
down. In a few minutes there was a knock, the door 
opened, a servant entered. “Bring me a cup of tea / 7 
said Mrs. Cliff. 


CHAPTER II 

WILLY CROUP DOESN’T KNOW 

The next afternoon, as the train approached Plainton, 
Mrs. Cliff found herself a great deal agitated as she 
thought of the platform at the station. Who would 
be there? How should she be met? With all her 
heart she hoped that there would not be anything 
like a formal reception, and yet this was not improb- 
able. Everybody knew she was coming ; everybody 
knew by what train she would arrive. She had 
written to Willy Croup, and she was very sure that 
everybody knew everything that she had written. 
More than this, everybody knew that she was coming 
home rich. How rich they were not aware, because 
she had not gone into particulars on this subject, but 
they knew that the wealthy Mrs. Cliff would arrive at 
five-twenty that afternoon, and what were they going 
to do about it? 

When she had gone home before, all her friends 
and neighbors, and even distant acquaintances,— if 
such people were possible in such a little town,— had 
come to her house to bid her welcome, and many of 
them had met her at the station. But then they had 
come to meet a poor, shipwrecked widow, pitied by 
10 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


most of them and loved by many. Even those who 
neither pitied nor loved her had a curiosity to see her, 
for she had been shipwrecked, and it was not known 
in Plainton how people looked after they had been 
wrecked. 

But now the case was so different that Mrs. Cliff did 
not expect the same sort of greeting, and she greatly 
feared formality. If Mr. Perley should appear on the 
platform, surrounded by some of the leading members 
of his congregation, and should publicly take her by 
the hand and bid her u Welcome home ! ” and if those 
who felt themselves entitled to do so should come 
forward and shake hands with her, while others, who 
might feel that they belonged to a different station in 
life, should keep in the background and wait until she 
came to speak to them, she would be deeply hurt. 

After all, Plainton and the people in it were dearer 
to her than anything else in the world, and it would 
be a great shock if she should meet formality where 
she looked for cordial love. She wanted to see Mr. 
Perley, — he was the first person she had seen when 
she came home before,— but now she hoped that he 
would not be there. She was very much afraid that 
he would make a stiff speech to her, and if he did 
that, she would know that there had been a great 
change, and that the friends she would meet were not 
the same friends she had left. She was almost afraid 
to look out of the window as the train slowed up at 
the station. 

The minds of the people of Plainton had been 
greatly exercised about this home-coming of Mrs. 
Cliff. That afternoon it was probable that no other 
subject of importance was thought about or talked 
11 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


about in the town, and for some days before the 
whole matter had been so thoroughly considered and 
discussed that the good citizens, without really com- 
ing to any fixed and general decision upon the subject, 
had individually made up their minds that, no matter 
what might happen afterwards, they would make no 
mistake upon this very important occasion which 
might subsequently have an influence upon their 
intercourse with their old, respected neighbor, now 
millionaire. Each one for himself, or herself, decided 
—some of them singly and some of them in groups— 
that as they did not know what sort of a woman Mrs. 
Cliff had become since the change in her circum- 
stances, they would not place themselves in false 
positions. Other people might go and meet her at 
the station, but they would stay at home and see 
what happened. Even Mr. Perley thought it wise, 
under the circumstances, to do this. 

Therefore it was that, when Mrs. Cliff stepped down 
upon the platform, she saw no one there but Willy 
Croup. If Mrs. Cliff was a little shocked and a good 
deal surprised to find no one to meet her but that 
simple-minded dependant and relative, her emotions 
were excited in a greater degree by the manner in 
which she was greeted by this old friend and com- 
panion. 

Instead of rushing toward her with open arms, — 
for Willy was an impulsive person and given to such 
emotional demonstrations,— Miss Croup came forward 
extending a loosely filled black cotton glove. Her 
large, light-blue eyes showed a wondering interest, 
and Mrs. Cliff felt that every portion of her visible 
attire was being carefully scanned. 

12 


MRS. CLIFF’S YACHT 


For a moment Mrs. Cliff hesitated, and then she took 
the hand of Willy Croup and shook it. But she did not 
speak. She had no command of words — at least, for 
greeting. 

Willy earnestly inquired after her health, and said 
how glad she was to see her. But Mrs. Cliff did not 
listen. She looked about her. For an instant she 
thought that possibly the train had come in ahead of 
time. But this, of course, was absurd— trains never 
did that. 

“ Willy,” she said, her voice a little shaken, “has 
anything happened ? Is anybody sick ? ” 

“Oh, no ! ” said Willy. “Everybody is well, so far 
as I know. I guess you are wondering why there is 
nobody here to meet you, and I have been wondering 
at that, too. They must have thought that you did 
not want to be bothered when you were attending 
to your baggage and things. Is anybody with 
you ? ” 

“With me ! ” exclaimed Mrs. Cliff. “Who could be 
with me?” 

“Oh, I didn’t know,” replied the other. “I thought 
perhaps you might have a maid-servant, or some of 
those black people you wrote about.” 

Mrs. Cliff was on the point of telling Willy she was 
a fool, but she refrained. 

“Here is the baggageman,” said Willy, “and he 
wants your checks.” 

As Mrs. Cliff took the little pieces of brass from her 
purse and handed them to the man, Willy looked on 
in amazement. 

“Good gracious!” she exclaimed. “Seven! I 
guess you had to pay for extra baggage. Shall I get 
13 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


you a carriage, and where do you want to be driven 
to — to your own house or the hotel ? ” 

Now Mrs. Cliff could not restrain herself. “What 
is the matter with you, Willy? Have you gone 
crazy?” she exclaimed. “Of course, I am going to 
my own house, and I do not want any carriage. Did 
I ever need a carriage to take me such a short distance 
as that ? Tell the man to bring some one with him to 
carry the trunks up-stairs, and then come on.” 

“Let me carry your bag,” said Willy, as the two 
walked away from the station at a much greater pace, 
it may be remarked, than Willy was accustomed to 
walk. 

“No, you shall not carry my bag,” said Mrs. Cliff, 
and not another word did she speak until she had en- 
tered the hallway of her home. Then, closing the 
door behind her, and without looking around at any 
of the dear objects for a sight of which she had so 
long been yearning, she turned to her companion. 

“Willy,” she cried, “what does this mean? Why 
do you treat me in this way when I come home after 
having been away so long, and having suffered so 
much? Why do you greet me as if you took me for 
a tax-collector? Why do you stand there like a— a 
horrible clam ? ” 

Willy hesitated. She looked up, and she looked 
down. 

“Things are so altered,” she said, “and I didn’t 
know—” 

“Well, know now,” said Mrs. Cliff, as she held out 
her arms. In a moment the two women were clasped 
in a tight embrace, kissing and sobbing. 

“How should I know? ” said poor Willy, as she was 
14 


MRS CLIFFS YACHT 


wiping her eyes. “ Chills went down me as I stood 
on that platform, wondering what sort of a grand lady 
you would look like when you got out of the car, with 
two servant-women, most likely, and perhaps a butler, 
and trying to think what I should say.” 

Mrs. Cliff laughed. “You were born addle-pated, 
and you can’t help it. Now, let us go through this 
house without wasting a minute ! ” 

Willy gazed at her in amazement. 

“You’re just the same as you always was ! ” she cried. 

“Indeed, lam!” said Mrs. Cliff. “Did you clean 
this dining-room yourself, Willy? It looks as spick- 
and-span, as if I had just left it.” 

“Indeed, it does,” was the proud reply, “and you 
couldn’t find a speck of dust from the ceiling to the 
floor ! ” 

When Mrs. Cliff had been up-stairs and down-stairs, 
and in the front yard, the side yard, and the back 
yard, and when her happy eyes had rested upon all 
her dear possessions, she went into the kitchen. 

“Now, Willy,” she said, “let us go to work and get 
supper, for, I must say, I am hungry.” 

At this Willy Croup turned pale, her chin dropped, 
a horrible suspicion took possession of her. Could it 
be possible that it was all a mistake, or that something 
dreadful had happened— that the riches which every- 
body had been talking about had never existed, or 
had disappeared? She might want to go to her old 
home $ she might want to see her goods and chattels, 
but that she should want to help get supper— that 
was incomprehensible ! At that moment the world 
looked very black to Willy. If Mrs. Cliff had gone 
into the parlor, and had sat down in the best rocking- 
15 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


chair to rest herself, and had said to her, “Please get 
supper as soon as you can,” Willy would have be- 
lieved in everything. But now ! 

The grinding of heavy wheels was heard in front of 
the house, and Willy turned quickly and looked out 
of the window. There was a wagon containing seven 
enormous tru nks ! Since the days when Plainton was 
a little hamlet, up to the present time, when it con- 
tained a hotel, a bank, a lyceum, and a weekly paper, 
no one had ever arrived within its limits with seven 
such trunks. Instantly the blackness disappeared 
from before the mind of Willy Croup. 

“How, you tell the men where to carry them,” she 
cried, “and I will get the supper in no time ! Betty 
Handshall stayed here until this morning, but she 
went away after dinner, for she was afraid if she stayed 
she would be in the way, not knowing how much help 
you would bring with you.” 

“I wonder if they are all crack-brained,” thought 
Mrs. Cliff, as she went to the front door to attend to 
her baggage. 

That evening nearly all Plainton came to see Mrs. 
Cliff. No matter how she returned,— as a purse-proud 
bondholder, as a lady of elegant wealth with her at- 
tendants, as an old friend suddenly grown jolly and 
prosperous,— it would be all right for her neighbors 
to go in and see her in the evening. There they might 
suit themselves to her new deportment, whatever it 
might be, and there would be no danger of any of 
them getting into false positions, which would have 
been very likely indeed if they had gone to meet her 
at the station. 


16 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


Her return to her own house gave her real friends 
a great deal of satisfaction, for some of them had feared 
she would not go there. It would have been difficult 
for them to know how to greet Mrs. Cliff at a hotel, 
even such an unpretentious one as that of Plainton. 
All these friends found her the same warm-hearted 
cordial woman that she had ever been. In fact, if 
there was any change at all in her, she was more 
cordial than they had yet known her. As in the case 
of Willy Croup, a cloud had risen before her. She 
had been beset by the sudden fear that her money 
already threatened to come between her and her old 
friends. “Hot if I can help it ! ” said Mrs. Cliff to 
herself, as fervently as if she had been vowing a vow 
to seek the Holy Grail. And she did help it. The 
good people forgot what they had expected to think 
about her, and only remembered what they had 
always thought of her. Ho matter what had hap- 
pened, she was the same. 

But what had happened, and how it had happened, 
and all about it, up and down, to the right and the 
left, above and below, everybody wanted to know. 
And Mrs. Cliff, with sparkling eyes, was only too glad 
to tell them. She had been obliged to be so reserved 
when she had come home before, that she was all the 
more eager to be communicative now, and it was past 
midnight before the first of that eager and delighted 
company thought of going home. 

There was one question, however, which Mrs. Cliff 
successfully evaded, and that was— the amount of her 
wealth. She would not give even an approximate 
idea of the value of her share of the golden treasure. 

17 


I 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 

It was very soon plain to everybody that Mrs. Cliff 
was the same woman she used to be in regard to 
keeping to herself that which she did not wish to tell 
to others, and so everybody went away with imagina- 
tion absolutely unfettered. 


18 


CHAPTER III 

MISS NANCY SHOTT 

The next morning Mrs. Cliff sat alone in her parlor, 
with her mind earnestly fixed upon her own circum- 
stances. Out in the kitchen, Willy Croup was dashing 
about like a domestic fanatic, eager to get the morn- 
ing’s work done, and everything put in order, that she 
might go up-stairs with Mrs. Cliff, and witness the 
opening of those wonderful trunks. 

She was a happy woman, for she had a new dish- 
pan, which Mrs. Cliff had authorized her to buy that 
very morning, the holes in the bottom of the old one 
having been mended so often that she and Mrs. Cliff 
both believed that it would be very well to get a new 
one and rid themselves of further trouble. 

Willy also had had the proud satisfaction of stop- 
ping at the carpenter shop, on her way to buy the 
dish-pan, and order him to come and do whatever was 
necessary to the back kitchen door. Sometimes it had 
been the hinges and sometimes it had been the lock 
which had been out of order on that door for at least 
a year, and although they had been tinkering here 
and tinkering there, the door had never worked 
properly. But now Mrs. Cliff had said that it must be 
19 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


put in perfect order, even if a new door and a new 
frame were required, and without any regard to what 
it might cost. This to Willy was the dawn of a new 
era, and the thought of it excited her like wine. 

Mrs. Cliff’s mind was not excited $ it was disquieted. 
She had been thinking of her investments and of her 
deposits, all of which had been made under wise ad- 
vice, and it had suddenly occurred to her to calculate 
how much richer she was to-day than she had been 
yesterday. When she appreciated the fact that the 
interest on her invested property had increased her 
wealth, since the previous morning, by some hundreds 
of dollars, it frightened her. She felt as if an irre- 
sistible flood of opulence was flowing in upon her, and 
she shuddered to think of the responsibility of direct- 
ing it into its proper courses, and so preventing it 
from overwhelming her and sweeping her away. 

To-morrow there would be several hundred dollars 
more, and the next day more, and so on always. And 
what was she doing, or what had she planned to 
do, to give proper direction to these tidal waves of 
wealths She had bought a new dish-pan and ordered 
a door repaired ! 

To be sure, it was very soon to begin to think of 
the expenditure of her income, but it was a question 
which could not be postponed. The importance of it 
was increasing all the time. Every five minutes she 
was two dollars richer. 

For a moment she wished herself back in Paris or 
New York. 

There she might open some flood-gate which would 
give instant relief from the pressure of her affluence, 
and allow her time to think. But what could she do in 


20 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 

Plainton— at least, how should she begin to do any- 
thing ? 

She got up and walked about the room. She was 
becoming annoyed, and even a little angry. She 
resented this intrusion of her wealth upon her. She 
wanted to rest quietly for a time, to enjoy her home 
and friends, and not be obliged to think of anything 
which it was incumbent upon her to do. From the 
bottom of her heart she wished that her possessions 
had all been solid gold, or in some form in which they 
could not increase, expand, or change in any way 
until she gave them leave. Then she would live for 
a week or two as she used to live, without thought of 
increment or responsibilities, until she was ready to 
begin the life of a rich woman, and to set in motion 
the currents of her exuberant income. 

But she could not change the state of affairs. The 
system of interest had been set in motion, and her 
income was flowing in upon her hour by hour, day by 
day, steadily and irresistibly, and her mind could not 
be at rest until she had done something— at least, 
planned something— which would not only prevent 
her from being overwhelmed and utterly discouraged, 
but which would enable her to float proudly, on this 
grand current of absolute power, over the material 
interests of the world. 

Mrs. Cliff was a woman of good sense. No matter 
how much money she might possess, she would have 
considered herself its unworthy possessor if she should 
spend any of it without proper value received. She 
might spend it foolishly, but she wanted the worth of 
her money. She would consider it a silly thing, for 
instance, to pay a thousand dollars for an India shawl, 
21 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


because few people wore India shawls, and she did not 
care for them ; but if she had done so, she would have 
been greatly mortified if she found that she had paid 
too much, and that she might have bought as good a 
shawl for seven hundred and fifty dollars. 

Since she had been in that room and thinking about 
these things, enough interest had come to her to en- 
able her to buy a good silver watch for some deserving 
person. Now, who was there to whom she could give 
a plain silver watch? Willy Croup would be glad to 
have it, but then, it would be better to wait a few 
hours and give her a gold one. 

Now it was that Willy came into the room with a 
disappointed expression upon her countenance. 

“I was just coming in to tell you,” she said, “that I 
was ready now to go up and help you open the trunks, 
but here comes that horrid Miss Shott, and dear knows 
how long she will stay ! ” 

Nancy Shott was the leading spinster of Plainton. 
In companies where there were married ladies she 
was sometimes obliged to take a second place, but 
never among maidens, old or young. There were 
very few subjects upon which Miss Shott had not an 
opinion, and whatever this opinion might be, she 
considered it her first duty in life to express it. As 
a rule, the expression was more agreeable to her than 
to others. 

When Mrs. Cliff heard that Miss Shott was ap- 
proaching, she instantly forgot her wealth and all her 
perplexities concerning it. Miss Shott had not called 
upon her the previous evening, but she had not ex- 
pected her, nor did she expect her now. 

On her previous visit to Plainton, Mrs. Cliff had 
22 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


been shamefully insulted by Miss Shott, who had 
accused her of extravagance, and, by implication, of 
dishonesty, and, in return, the indignant widow had 
opened upon her such a volley of justifiable retaliation 
that Miss Shott, in great wrath, had retired from the 
house, followed, figuratively, by a small coin, which 
she had brought as a present, and which had been 
hurled after her. 

But Mrs. Cliff knew that her acrimonious neighbor 
could never be depended upon to do anything which 
might be expected of her, and she was not quite so 
much surprised as she was annoyed. Of course, she 
had known she must meet Nancy Shott, and she had 
intended to do nothing which would recall to the mind 
of any one that she remembered the disagreeable in- 
cident referred to, but she had not expected that the 
meeting would be in private. 

She knew that Nancy would do something decidedly 
unpleasant. If she had stayed away because she 
wanted a chance to reopen the previous quarrel, 
that would be bad enough, but if she had determined 
to drop all resentment, and had come prepared to 
offer honey and sugar, and thus try to make a rich 
friend out of one she had considered as a poor enemy, 
that would be still more disagreeable. But by the 
time the visitor had entered the parlor, Mrs. Cliff had 
made up her mind to meet her as if nothing unpleasant 
had ever happened between them, and then to await 
the course of events. She was not at all pleased with 
the visit, but, notwithstanding this, she had great 
curiosity to know what Miss Shott had to say about 
the change in her circumstances. 

Nancy Shott was different from other people. She 
23 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


was capable of drawing the most astounding inferences, 
and of coming to the most soul-irritating conclusions, 
even on subjects which could not be otherwise than 
pleasant to ordinary people. 

“How do you do?” said Miss Shott, offering her 
hand. “I am glad to see you back, Mrs. Cliff.” 

Mrs. Cliff replied that she was quite well, and was 
glad to be back. 

“You are not looking as hale as you did,” said the 
visitor, as she seated herself. “You must have lost a 
good many pounds. But that was to be expected. 
From what I have heard, South America must be 
about as unhealthy a place as any part of the world, 
and then, on top of that, living in Paris, with water to 
drink which, I am told, is enough to make anybody 
sick to look at it, is bound to have some sort of an 
effect upon a person.” 

Mrs. Cliff smiled. She was used to this sort of talk 
from Nancy Shott. “I am better than I was two 
years ago,” she said, “and the last time I was weighed 
I found that I had gained seven pounds.” 

“Well, there is no accounting for that,” said her 
visitor, “except as we grow old we are bound, to show 
it, and sometimes aging looks like bad health, and as 
to fat, that often comes as years go on, though, as far 
as I am concerned, I think it is a great misfortune to 
have more to carry as you get less and less able to 
carry it.” 

Mrs. Cliff might have said that that sort of thing 
would not be likely to trouble Miss Shott, whose 
scantily furnished frame was sure to become thinner 
and thinner as she became older and weaker, but she 
merely smiled and waited to hear what would come 
next. 


24 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


“I do not want to worry you,” said Miss Shott, 
“but several people that were here last night said you 
was not looking as they had hoped to see you look, 
and I will just say to you, if it is anything connected 
with your appetite, with a feeling of goneness in the 
mornings, you ought to buy a quassia cup, and drink 
the full of it at least three times a day.” 

Miss Shott knew that Mrs. Cliff absolutely detested 
the taste of quassia. Mrs. Cliff was not annoyed. She 
hoped that her visitor would soon get through with 
these prefatory remarks, and begin to take the stand, 
whatever it might be, which she had come there that 
morning to take. 

“There has been sickness here since you last left,” 
said Miss Shott, “and it has been where it was least to 
be expected, too. Barney Thompson’s little boy, the 
second son, has had the diphtheria, and where he got 
it nobody knows, for it was vacation-time, and he did 
not go to school, and there was no other diphtheria 
anywhere in all this town, and yet he had it, and had 
it bad.” 

“He did not die? ” said Mrs. Cliff. 

“Oh, no, he got over it, and perhaps it was a bad 
case, and perhaps it was not. But you may be sure I 
did not go near it, for I considered it my duty to keep 
away, and I did keep away. But the trouble is—” 

“And did none of the other children take it?” 
asked Mrs. Cliff. 

“]STo, they didn’t. But the trouble is that when 
diphtheria, or anything like it, comes up suddenly like 
this, without any reason that nobody can see, it is just 
as likely to come up again without any reason, and I 
am expecting to hear every day of another of them 
Thompson children being stricken down. So I was 
25 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


very sorry indeed, Mrs. Cliff, to see, this very morning, 
Willy Croup coming out of Barney Thompson’s house, 
and to hear from her afterwards that she had been to 
order him to come here to put up a new kitchen door, 
which I do not suppose is absolutely needed, and even 
if it is, I am sure I would wait a good while before I 
would have Barney Thompson come into my house 
with diphtheria, that very minute, perhaps, in the 
throats of one or maybe more of his children. But, of 
course, if people choose to trifle with their own lives, 
it is their own business.” 

“It was not real diphtheria,” said Willy Croup, who 
happened to be passing the open door at this moment. 
“It was only a bad sore throat, and the child was well 
in two days.” 

“I suppose, of course,” said Miss Shott, “that if the 
disease did get into this house, Willy Croup would be 
the first to take it, because she is such a spongy person 
that she takes almost anything that is in the air and 
is not wholesome. But then, you would not want to 
lose her, and after a funeral in the house, no matter 
whose it may be, things is always gloomy for a long 
time afterwards, and nobody can feel easy if it was a 
catching disease that the person died of.” 

Mrs. Cliff was naturally desirous to hear all the 
domestic news of the town, but she would have liked 
to have had something pleasant thrown in among the 
gloomy tidings of which Miss Shott had made herself 
the bearer, and so she made a little effort to turn the 
conversation. 

“I shall be glad to go about and see my old friends 
and neighbors,” she said, “for I am interested in every- 
thing which has happened to them. But I suppose it 
26 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


will be some days before I can settle down and feel 
ready to go on in the old way. It seems to me as if I 
had been on the move ever since I left here, although, 
of course, I was not travelling all the time.” 

“I suppose nobody has told you,” said Miss Shott, 
“that Edward Darley has ploughed up that little 
pasture of his, and planted it with young apple-trees. 
Now, it does seem to me that for a man like Edward 
Darley, who comes of a consumptive family, and who 
has been coughing regularly, to my certain knowledge, 
for more than a year, to go and plant apple-trees, 
which he can’t expect to live to see bear fruit, is 
nothing more or less than a wicked waste of money, 
time, and labor. I suppose if I was to go and tell him 
so, he would not like that. But I do not know as I 
ought to consider it. There are people in this world 
who never know anything if they’re not told ! ” 

Five other topics of the town, each of a doleful 
nature, and each indicating an evident depravity in a 
citizen of Plainton, were related by Miss Shott, and 
then she arose to go. 

“I hope you’ll remember what I told you about 
Thompson’s children,” she said, as she walked to the 
front door, “and if I was you, I’d have that kitchen 
fumigated after he has put the door in ! ” 

“There, now!” said Miss Shott to herself, as she 
proudly walked down the street. “The Widow Cliff 
can’t say I’ve done any toadying, and no matter 
what she’s got, and what she hasn’t got, she can’t say 
to herself that I consider her any better able to give 
me twenty-five cents than she was when she was here 
before, or that it makes any difference to me whether 
she has much or little ! ” 


27 


CHAPTER IV 

A LAUNCH INTO A NEW LIFE 

It required the greater part of two days for Mrs. Cliff 
and Willy to open the seven trunks and properly 
display and dispose of the various articles and goods, 
astonishing in their variety and beauty, and absolutely 
amazing when the difference between the price paid 
for them and what they would have cost in New York 
was considered. 

During these fascinating operations it so happened 
that, at one time or another, nearly all of Mrs. Cliff’s 
female friends dropped in, and all were wonderfully 
impressed by what they saw and what they heard. 
But although Miss Shott did not come there during 
the grand opening, it was not long before she knew 
the price, and something of the general appearance, of 
nearly everything that Mrs. Cliff had brought with 
her. 

Among the contents of the trunks were a great 
many presents for Mrs. Cliff’s friends, and whenever 
Miss Shott heard of one of these gifts, she made a 
remark to the effect that she had not a doubt in the 
world that the Widow Cliff knew better than to bring 
her a present, for she would not want the thing, what- 
28 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


ever it was, whether a glass pitcher or a pin-cushion, 
flung back at her after the fashion that she had set 
herself at a time when everybody was trying their 
best to be kind to her. 

It was clearly a fact that through the influence of 
the seven trunks Mrs. Cliff was becoming a very popu- 
lar woman, and Miss Shott did not like it at all. She 
had never had any faith— at least, she said so— in those 
lumps of gold found in a hole in some part of the 
world that nobody had ever heard of, and had not 
hesitated to say that fortunes founded on such wild- 
goose stories as these should not even be considered 
by people of good sense who worked for their living, 
or had incomes which they could depend on. But the 
dress-goods, the ribbons, the gloves, the little clocks, 
the shoes, the parasols, the breast-pins, the portfolios 
of pictures, the jewelry, the rugs and table-covers, and 
hundreds of other beautiful and foreign things, were 
a substantial evidence that Mrs. Cliff’s money was not 
all moonshine. 

It was very pleasant for Mrs. Cliff to bring out her 
treasures to display them to her enthusiastic friends, 
and to arrange them in her house, and to behold the 
rapturous delight of Willy Croup from early morn 
until bedtime. 

But the seven empty trunks had been carried up 
into the garret, and now Mrs. Cliff set her mind to the 
solution of the question : How was she to begin her 
new life in her old home? It must be a new life, for 
to live as she had lived even in the days of her highest 
prosperity during her husband’s life would be absurd 
and even wicked. With such an income she must 
endeavor, as far as was possible to her, to live in a 
29 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


manner worthy of it. But one thing she was deter- 
mined upon : she would not alienate her friends by 
climbing to the top of her money and looking down 
upon them. None of them knew how high she would 
be if she were to perch herself on the very top of that 
money, but even if she climbed up a little way, they 
might still feel that they were very small in her sight. 

No, the money should always be kept in the back- 
ground. It might be as high as the sky and as glorious 
as a sunset, but she would be on the ground with the 
people of Plainton, and, as far as was possible, they 
should all enjoy the fine weather together. 

She could not repress a feeling of pride, for she 
would be looked upon as one of the principal persons 
—if not the principal person— in Plainton. But she 
could not believe that any real friend could possibly 
object to that. 

If her husband had lived and prospered, it was 
probable he would have been the principal man in 
Plainton, the minister always excepted. But now 
there was no reason whatever why any one should 
object to her being a principal personage, and, in this 
case, she could not see why the minister’s wife should 
be excepted. 

But Plainton was to be her home, and the Plainton 
people were to be her friends. How should she set 
about using her money in such a way that she should 
not be driven forth to some large city to live as ordi- 
nary wealthy people live, in a fashion to which she 
was utterly unsuited, and which possessed for her no 
attractions whatever? 

Of course, she had early determined to devote a 
large sum to charitable purposes, for she would have 
30 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


thought herself a very unworthy woman if her wealth 
had not benefited others than herself. But this was 
an easy matter to attend to. The amount she had set 
aside for charity was not permanently invested, and 
through the advice of Mr. Perley, there would be no 
difficulty in devoting this to suitable objects. Already 
she had confidentially spoken to her pastor on the sub- 
ject, and had found him enthusiastic in his desire to 
help her in every possible way in her benevolent pur- 
poses. But who was there who could help her in 
regard to herself? Who was there who could tell her 
how she ought to live so as to gain all the good that 
her money should give her, and yet not lose that which 
was to her the highest object of material existence— 
a happy and prosperous life among her old friends in 
her native town? 

Should she choose to elevate herself in the social 
circle by living as ordinary very rich people live, she 
could not hope to elevate her friends in that way, 
although she would be glad enough to do it in many 
cases, and there would be a gap between them which 
would surely grow wider and wider. And yet, here 
was this money coming in upon her in a steady stream 
day by day, and how was she going to make herself 
happier with it? 

She must do that, or, she believed, it would be her 
duty to hand it over to somebody else who was better 
adapted by nature to use it. 

“If I did not take so much pleasure in things which 
cost so little and which are so easy for me to buy,” 
said poor Mrs. Cliff to herself, “or if I did not have so 
much money, I am sure I should get on a great deal 
better.” 


31 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


Mrs. Cliffs belief that she must not long delay in 
selecting some sort of station in life, and endeavoring 
to live up to it, was soon strengthened by Willy 
Croup. During the time of the trunk-opening, and 
for some days afterwards, when all her leisure hours 
were occupied with the contemplation and considera- 
tion of her own presents, Willy had been perfectly 
contented to let things go on in the old way, or any 
way. But now the incongruity of Mrs. Cliffs present 
mode of living, and the probable amount of her for- 
tune, began to impress itself upon her. 

“It does seem to me,” said she, “that it’s a sin and 
a shame that you should be goin’ about this house just 
as you used to do, helpin’ me up -stairs and down-stairs, 
as if you couldn’t afford to hire nobody. You ought 
to have a girl, and a good one, and, for the matter of 
that, you might have two of ’em, I suppose. And even 
if it wasn’t too much for you to be workin’ about when 
there’s no necessity for it, the people are beginnin’ to 
talk, and that ought to be stopped.” 

“What are they talking about?” asked Mrs. Cliff. 

“Well, it’s not everybody that’s talkin’,” returned 
Willy, “and I guess that them that does gets their opin- 
ions from one quarter, but I’ve heard people say that 
it’s pretty plain that all you got out of that gold-mine 
you spent in buyin’ the things you brought home in 
your trunks, for if you didn’t, you wouldn’t be livin’ 
like this, helpin’ to do your own housework and 
cookin’.” 

In consequence of this conversation, a servant of 
all work was employed, for Mrs. Cliff did not know 
what she would do with two women until she had 
made a change in her household arrangements $ and 
32 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


with this as a beginning, our good widow determined 
to start out on her career as a rich woman who in- 
tended to enjoy herself in the fashion she liked 
best. 

She sent for Mr. Thompson, the carpenter, and con- 
sulted with him in regard to the proposed additions 
to her house. But when she had talked for a time, she 
became disheartened. She found that it would be 
necessary to dig a new cellar close to her present 
premises, that there would be stones, and gravel, and 
lime, and sand, and carts and horses, and men, and 
dirt, and that it would be some months before all the 
hammering, and the sawing, and the planing, and the 
plastering, and tinwork could be finished, and all this 
would be going on under her eye, and close to her 
ears, during those first months in which she had pro- 
posed to be so happy in her home. She could not 
bear to give the word to dig, and pound, and saw. It 
was not like building a new house, for that would not 
be near her, and the hubbub of its construction would 
not annoy her. 

So she determined she would not begin a new 
dining-room at present. She would wait a little while, 
until she had had some good of her house as it was, 
and then she would feel better satisfied to live in the 
midst of pounding, banging, and all-pervading dust. 
But she would do something. She would have the 
fence which separated the sidewalk from her front 
yard newly painted. She had long wanted to have 
that done, but had not been able to afford it. 

But when Mr. Thompson went to look at the fence, 
he told her that it would be really a waste of money 
to paint it, for in many places it was old and decayed, 
33 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 

and it would be much wiser to put up a new one, and 
paint that. 

Again Mrs. Cliff hesitated. If that fence had to be 
taken down, and the posts dug up, and new posts put 
in, and the flower-bed which ran along the inside of 
it destroyed, it would be just as well to wait until the 
other work began, and have it all done at once. So 
she told Mr. Thompson he need not send a painter, 
for she would make the old fence do for a while. 

Mrs. Cliff sighed a little as the carpenter walked 
away, but there were other things to do. There was 
the pasture-lot at the rear of her garden, and she could 
have a cow, and there was the little barn, and she 
could have a horse. The idea of the horse pleased her 
more than anything she had yet thought of in connec- 
tion with her wealth. 

In her days of prosperity it had been her greatest 
pleasure to drive in her phaeton with her good brown 
horse, generally with Willy Croup by her side, to stop 
at shops or to make calls upon friends, and to make 
those little excursions into the surrounding country in 
which she and Willy both delighted. They had some- 
times gone a long distance, and had taken their dinner 
with them, and Willy was really very good in unhar- 
nessing the horse and watering him at a brook, and in 
giving him some oats. 

To return to these old joys was a delightful prospect, 
and Mrs. Cliff made inquiries about her horse, which 
had been sold in the town. But he was gone. He had 
been sold to a drover, and his whereabouts no one 
knew. 

So she went to Mr. Williams, the keeper of the 
hotel, who knew more about horses than anybody 
34 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


else, and consulted with him on the subject of a new 
steed. She told him just what she wanted : a gentle 
horse which she could drive herself, and one which 
Willy could hold when she went into a house or a 
shop. 

Now, it so happened that Mr. Williams had just 
such a horse, and when Mrs. Cliff had seen it, and 
when Willy had come up to look at it, and when the 
matter had been talked about in all the aspects in 
which it presented itself to Mrs. Cliff’s mind, she 
bought the animal, and it was taken to her stable, 
where Andrew Marks, a neighbor, was engaged to 
take care of it. 

The next morning Mrs. Cliff and Willy took a drive 
a little way out of town, and they both agreed that 
this horse, which was gray, was a great deal better 
traveller than the old brown, and a much handsomer 
animal ; but both of them also agreed that they did 
not believe that they would ever learn to love him as 
they had their old horse. 

Still, he was very easy to drive, and he went along 
so pleasantly, without needing the whip in the least, 
that Mrs. Cliff said to herself that, for the first time 
since her return, she really felt herself a rich woman. 

“If everything,” she thought, “should come to me 
as this horse came to me, how delightful my life 
would be ! When I wanted him, I found him. I did 
not have to trouble myself in the least about the price. 
I simply paid it, and ordered him sent home. Now, 
that sort of thing is what makes a person feel truly 
rich.” 

When they had gone far enough, and had reached 
a wide place in the road, Mrs. Cliff turned and started 
35 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


back to Plainton. But now the horse began to be a 
different kind of a horse. With his face toward his 
home, he set out to trot as fast as he could, and when 
Mrs. Cliff, not liking such a rapid pace, endeavored 
to pull him in, she found it very hard to do, and when 
she began to saw his mouth, thinking that would 
restrain his ardor, he ambled and capered, and Mrs. 
Cliff was obliged to let him resume his rapid gait. 

He was certainly a very hard-mouthed horse going 
home, and Mrs. Cliffs arms ached, and Willy Croup’s 
heart quaked, long before they reached the town. 
When they reached Plainton, Mrs. Cliff began to be 
afraid that he would gallop through the streets, and 
she told Willy that, if he did, she must not scream, but 
must sit quietly, and she would endeavor to steer him 
clear of the vehicles and people. 

But although he did not gallop, the ardent gray 
seemed to travel faster after he entered the town, and 
Mrs. Cliff, who was getting very red in the face from 
her steady tugging at the reins, thought it wise not to 
attempt to go home, but to let her horse go straight 
to the hotel stables where he had lived. 

When Mrs. Cliff had declared to Mr. Williams that 
that horse would never suit her, that she would not be 
willing to drive it, and would not even think of going 
into a house and leaving Willy Croup to hold him, he 
was very much surprised, and said that he had not a 
gentler horse in his stable, and he did not believe 
there was one in the town. 

“All horses,” said he, “want to go home, especially 
at dinner-time.” 

“But the old brown did not,” urged Mrs. Cliff. 
“That is the sort of horse I want.” 


36 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


“Some very old beast might please you better / 7 said 
he 7 “but really, Mrs. Cliff, that is not the sort of horse 
you should have. He would die or break down in a 
little while, and then you would have to get another. 
What you should do is to have a good horse and a 
driver. You might get a two-seated carriage, either 
open or closed, and go anywhere and everywhere, and 
never think of the horse . 77 

That was not the thing she longed for. That would 
not bring back the happy days when she drove the 
brown through the verdant lanes. If she must have 
a driver, she might as well hire a cab and be driven 
about. But she told Mr. Williams to get her a suitable 
vehicle, and she would have Andrew Marks to drive 
her, and she and Willy Croup walked sadly home. 

As to the cow she succeeded better. She bought a 
fairly good one, and Willy undertook to milk her and 
to make butter. 

“How, what have I done so far ? 77 said Mrs. Cliff, on 
the evening of the day when the cow came home. “I 
have a woman to cook, I have a new kitchen door, 
and I have a cow ! I do not count the horse and the 
wagon, for if I do not drive myself, I shall not feel 
that they are mine in the way that I want them 
to be . 77 


37 


CHAPTER Y 


A FUR-TRIMMED OVERCOAT AND A SILK HAT 

Mrs. Cliff now began to try very hard to live as she 
ought to live, without pretensions or snobbery, but in 
a style becoming, in some degree, her great fortune. 

There was one thing she determined to do immedi- 
ately, and that was to begin a series of hospitalities 
—and it made her feel proud to think that she could 
do this, and do it handsomely, and yet do it in the old 
home where everybody knew she had for years been 
obliged to practise the strictest economy. 

She gave a dinner to which she invited her most 
select friends. Mr. and Mrs. Perley were there, and 
the Misses Thorpdyke, two maiden ladies who consti- 
tuted the family of the highest social pretension of 
Plainton. There were other people who were richer, 
but Miss Eleanor Thorpdyke, now a lady of nearly 
seventy, and her sister Barbara, some ten years 
younger, belonged to the very best family in that 
part of the country, and were truly the aristocrats of 
the place. 

But they had always been very friendly with Mrs. 
Cliff, and they were glad to come to her dinner. The 
other guests were all good people, and a dinner-party 
38 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 

of more distinction could not have been collected in 
that town. 

But this dinner did not go off altogether smoothly. 
If the people had come merely to eat, they must have 
been abundantly satisfied, for everything was of the 
very best and well cooked, Mrs. Cliff and Willy having 
seen to that. But there were certain roughnesses and 
hitches in the management of the dinner which dis- 
turbed Mrs. Cliff. In her travels and at the hotels 
where she had lived she had seen a great deal of good 
service, and she knew what it was. 

Willy, who, being a relative, should really have 
come to the table, had decidedly declined to do so, 
and had taken upon herself the principal part of the 
waiting, assisted by the general servant and a small 
girl who had been called in. But the dining-room 
was very small, some of the chairs were but a little 
distance from the wall, and it was evident that Willy 
had not a true appreciation of the fact that in recent 
years she had grown considerably rounder and plumper 
than she used to be, and it made Mrs. Cliff’s blood run 
cold to see how she bumped the back of Mr. Perley’s 
chair, as she thrust herself between it and the wall. 

The small girl had to be told almost everything 
that she must do, and the general servant, who did 
not like to wait on table, only came in when she was 
called, and left immediately when she had done what 
she had been called for. 

When the guests had gone, Mrs. Cliff declared to 
Willy that that was the last large dinner she would 
give in that house. “It was not a dinner which a 
woman of my means should offer to her friends.” 

Willy was amazed. 


39 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


“I don’t see how it could have been better/’ said 
she, “unless you had champagne, and I know Mr. 
Perley wouldn’t have liked that. Everything on the 
table was just as good as it could be.” 

But Mrs. Cliff shook her head. She knew that she 
had attempted something for which her present 
resources were insufficient. After this she invited 
people to dinner once or twice a week, but the com- 
pany was always very small and suited to the re- 
sources of the house. 

“I will go on this way for a while,” thought the 
good lady, “and after a time I will begin to spread 
out and do things in a different style.” 

Several times she drove over to Harrington, a large 
town some five miles away, which contained a furni- 
ture factory, and there she purchased many articles 
which would be suitable for the house, always securing 
the best things for her purposes, but frequently regret- 
ting that certain beautiful and imposing pieces of 
furniture were entirely unsuited to the capacity of 
her rooms and hallways. But when her dining-room 
should be finished, and the room above it, she would 
have better opportunity of gratifying her taste for 
handsome wood in imposing designs. Then it might 
be that Harrington would not be able to give her 
anything good enough. 

Her daily mail was now much larger than it ever 
had been before. Business people sent her cards and 
circulars, and every now and then she received letters 
calling her attention to charities or pressing personal 
needs of the writers ; but there were not very many of 
these, for although it was generally known that Mrs. 
Cliff had come into a fortune, her manner of living 
40 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


seemed also a matter of public knowledge. Even the 
begging letters were couched in very moderate terms ; 
but all these Mrs. Cliff took to Mr. Perley, and, by his 
advice, she paid attention to but very few of them. 

Day by day Mrs. Cliff endeavored to so shape and 
direct her fortunes that they might make her happy 
in the only ways in which she could be happy, but 
her efforts to do so did not always gain for her the 
approval of her fellow-townspeople. There were 
some who thought that a woman who professed to 
have command of money should do a good many 
things which Mrs. Cliff did not do, and there were 
others who did not hesitate to assert that a woman 
who lived as Mrs. Cliff lived should not do a great 
many things which she did do, among which things 
some people included the keeping of a horse and 
carriage. 

It was conceded, of course, that all this was Mrs. 
Cliff’s own business. She had paid the money she had 
borrowed to go to South America. She had been very 
kind to some of the poor people of the town, and it 
was thought by some had been foolishly munificent to 
old Mrs. Bradley, who, from being a very poor person 
threatened with the loss of her home, was now an 
independent householder, and enjoyed an annuity 
sufficient to support her. 

More than that, Mrs. Cliff had been very generous 
in regard to the church music. It was not known 
exactly how much she had given toward this object, 
but there were those who said that she must have 
given her means a considerable strain when she made 
her contribution— that is, if the things were to be 
done which Mr. Perley talked about. 

41 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


When Mrs. Cliff heard what had been said upon this 
subject,— and Willy Croup was generally very well 
able to keep her informed in regard to what the 
people of the town said about her,— she thought that 
the gossips would have been a good deal astonished 
if they had known how much she had really given to 
the church, and that they would have been absolutely 
amazed if they knew how much Mr. Perley had re- 
ceived for general charities. And then she thought, 
with a tinge of sadness, how very much surprised Mr. 
Perley would have been if he had known how much 
more she was able to give away without feeling its loss. 

Weeks passed on. The leaves turned red and yellow 
upon the trees, the evenings and mornings grew colder 
and colder, and Mrs. Cliff did everything she could 
toward the accomplishment of what now appeared to 
her in the light of a great duty in her life— the proper 
expenditure of her income and appropriation of her 
great fortune. 

Her labors were not becoming more cheerful. Hay 
after day she said to herself that she was not doing 
what she ought to do, and that it was full time that 
she should begin to do something better, but what that 
better thing was she could not make up her mind. 
Even the improvements she contemplated were, 
after all, such mere trifles ! 

It was a very cold morning in October when Mrs. 
Cliff went into her parlor and said to Willy that there 
was one thing she could do : she could have a rousing, 
comfortable fire without thinking whether wood was 
five, ten, or twenty dollars per cord. When Willy 
found that Mrs. Cliff wanted to make herself comfort- 
able before a fine, blazing fire, she seemed in doubt. 

42 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 

“I don’t know about the safety of it,” she said. 
“That chimney’s in a pretty bad condition. The 
masons told us so years ago, and nothin’ has ever 
been done to it. There have been fires in it, but 
they have been little ones; and if I was you, I 
wouldn’t have too large a blaze in that fireplace until 
the chimney has been made all right.” 

Mrs. Cliff was annoyed. “Well, then, Willy, I wish 
you would go for the mason immediately, and tell him 
to come here and repair the chimney. It’s perfectly 
ridiculous that I can’t have a fire in my own parlor, 
when I am able to have a chimney as high and as big 
as Bunker Hill Monument if I wanted it ! ” 

Willy Croup smiled. She did not believe that Mrs 
Cliff really knew how much such a chimney would 
cost, but she said, “You have got to remember, you 
know, that we can’t have the Cuthberts here to dinner 
to-morrow if the masons come to work at that chim- 
ney. Ten to one, they will have to take the most part 
of it down, and we shall be in a general mess here for 
a week.” 

Mrs. Cliff sat down with a sigh. “You need not 
mind to have the wood brought in,” she said. “Just 
give me a few sticks and some kindling, so that I can 
give things a little air of cheerfulness.” 

As she sat before the gently blazing little fire, Mrs. 
Cliff felt that things needed an air of cheerfulness. 
She had that morning been making calculations, and, 
notwithstanding all she had bought, all she had done, 
and even including with the most generous margin all 
she had planned to do, her income was gaining upon 
her in a most discouraging way. 

“I am not fit for it,” she said to herself. “I don’t 
43 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


know how to live as I want to live, and I won’t live 
as I don’t want to live. The whole business is too 
big for me. I don’t know how to manage it. I ought 
to give up my means to somebody who knows how to 
use them, and stay here myself with just enough money 
to make me happy.” 

For the fortieth time she considered the question of 
laying all her troubles before Mr. Perley, but she knew 
her pastor. The great mass of her fortune would 
quickly be swallowed up in some grand missionary 
enterprise, and this would not suit Mrs. Cliff. No 
matter how much she was discouraged, no matter how 
difficult it was to see her way before her, no matter 
how great a load she felt her wealth to be, there was 
always before her a glimmering sense of grand possi- 
bilities. What they were she could not now see or 
understand, but she would not willingly give them up. 

She was an elderly woman, but she came of a long- 
lived family, all of whom had lived in good health 
until the end of their days, and if there was any grand, 
golden felicity which was possible to her, she felt that 
there was reason to believe she would live long to 
enjoy it when she wanted it. 

One morning, as Mrs. Cliff sat thinking over these 
things, there was a knock at the front door, and, of 
course, Willy Croup ran to open it. No matter where 
she was, or no matter what she was doing, Willy al- 
ways went to the door if she could, because she had so 
great a desire to know who was there. 

This time it was a gentleman, a very fine gentleman, 
with a high silk hat and a handsome overcoat trimmed 
with fur— fur on the collar, fur on the sleeves, and fur 
down the front. Willy had never seen such a coat. 

44 


MRS. CLIFF’S YACHT 


It was October and it was cool, but there was no man 
in Plainton who would have worn such a coat as that 
so early in the season, even if he had one. 

The gentleman had dark eyes and a very large mus- 
tache, and he carried a cane and wore rather bright 
tan-colored gloves. All these things Willy observed 
in an instant, for she was very quick in taking notice 
of people’s clothes and general appearance. 

The gentleman raised his hat and asked if Mrs. Cliff 
lived there. Now Willy thought he must be an ex- 
traordinary fine gentleman, for how should he know 
that she was not a servant, and in those parts gentle- 
men did not generally raise their hats to girls who 
opened front doors. 

The gentleman was admitted, and was ushered into 
the parlor, where sat Mrs. Cliff. She was a little sur- 
prised at the sight of this visitor, who came in with 
his hat on, but who took it off and made her a low bow 
as soon as he saw her. But she thought she appre- 
ciated the situation, and she hardened her heart. 

A strange man, so finely dressed, and with such man- 
ners, must have come for money, and Mrs. Cliff had 
already learned to harden her heart toward strangers 
who solicited. But the hardness of her heart utterly 
disappeared in her amazement when this gentleman, 
having pulled off his right glove, advanced toward 
her, holding out his hand. 

“You don’t remember me, Mrs. Cliff?” he said in a 
loud, clear voice. “No wonder, for I am a good deal 
changed. But it is not the same with you. You are 
the same as ever— I declare you are ! ” 

Mrs. Cliff took the proffered hand, and looked into 
the face of the speaker. There was something there 
45 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


which seemed familiar, but she had never known such 
a fine gentleman as this. She thought over the people 
whom she had seen in France and in California, but 
she could not recollect this face. 

“It’s a mean thing to be puzzlin’ you, Mrs. Cliff,” 
said the stranger, with a cheery smile. “I’m George 
Burke, seaman on the Castor , where I saw more of you, 
Mrs. Cliff, than I’ve ever seen since ; for though we 
have both been a good deal jumbled up since, we 
haven’t been jumbled up together, so I don’t wonder 
if you don’t remember me, especially as I didn’t wear 
clothes like these on the Castor — not by any means, 
Mrs. Cliff!” 

“I remember you,” she said, and she shook his hand 
warmly. “I remember you, and you had a mate 
named Edward Shirley.” 

“Yes, indeed ! ” said Mr. Burke, “and he’s all right, 
and I’m all right, and how are you? ” 

The overcoat with the fur trimmings came off, and, 
with the hat, the cane, and the gloves, was laid upon 
a chair, and Burke and Mrs. Cliff sat down to talk 
over old times and old friends. 


46 


CHAPTER YI 


A TEMPERANCE LARK 

As Mrs. Cliff sat and talked with George Burke, she 
forgot the calculations she had been making, she forgot 
her perplexities and her anxieties concerning the rapid 
inroads which her income was making upon her ability 
to dispose of it, in the recollection of the good-fellow- 
ships which the presence of her companion recalled. 

But Mr. Burke could give her no recent news of 
Captain Horn and Edna, she having heard from them 
later than he had, and the only one of the people of 
the Castor of whom he could tell her was Edward 
Shirley, who had gone into business. 

He had bought a share in a shipyard, and as he was 
a man who had a great idea about the lines of a vessel, 
and all that sort of thing, he had determined to put 
his money into that business. He was a long-headed 
fellow, and Burke had no doubt but that he would 
soon hear of some fine craft coming from the yard of 
his old shipmate. 

“But how about yourself, Mr. Burke? I want to 
know what has happened to you, and what you intend 
doing, and how you chanced to be coming this way.” 

“Oh, I will tell you everything that has happened 
to me,” said Mr. Burke, “and it won’t take long. But 
47 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


first let me ask you something, Mrs. Cliff/’ and as he 
spoke he quietly rose and shut the parlor door. 

“Now, then,” said he, as he seated himself, “we have 
all been in the same box, or, I should say, in the same 
boxes of different kinds, and although I may not have 
the right to call myself a friend, I am just as friendly 
to you as if I was, and feel as if people who have been 
through what we have ought to stand by each other 
even after they’ve got through their hardest rubs. 
Now, Mrs. Cliff, has anything happened to you? 
Have you had any set-backs % I know that this is a 
mighty queer world, and that even the richest people 
can often come down with a sudden thump, just as if 
they had slipped on the ice.” 

Mrs. Cliff smiled. “Nothing has happened to me,” 
she said. “I have had no set-backs, and I am just as 
rich to-day— I should say a great deal richer than I 
was on the day when Captain Horn made the division 
of the treasure. But I know very well why you 
thought something had happened to me. You did 
not expect to find me living in this little house.” 

“No, by the Lord Harry, I didn’t ! ” exclaimed 
Burke, slapping his knee. “You must excuse me, 
Mrs. Cliff, for speaking out in that way, but really I 
never was so much surprised as when I came into 
your front yard. I thought I would find you in the 
finest house in the place until you could have a stately 
mansion built somewhere in the outskirts of the town, 
where there would be room enough for a park. But 
when I came to this house, I couldn’t help thinking 
that perhaps some beastly bank had broke, and that 
your share of the golden business had been swept 
away. Things like that do happen to women, you 
48 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


know, and I suppose they always will. But I am 
mighty glad to hear you are all right! 

“But, as you have asked me to tell you my story, I 
will make short work of it, and then I would like to 
hear what has happened to you, as much as you please 
to tell me about it. 

“Now, when I got my money, Mrs. Cliff, which, when 
compared to what your share must have been, was like 
a dory to a three -mast schooner, but still quite enough 
for me, and perhaps more than enough if a public 
vote could be taken on the subject, I was in Paris,— a 
jolly place for a rich sailor,— and I said to myself : 

“‘Now, Mr. Burke/ said I, for I might as well begin 
by using good manners, ‘the general disposition of a 
seafaring man with a lot of money is to go on a lark, 
or perhaps a good many larks, and so get rid of it, 
and then ship again before the mast for fourteen dol- 
lars per month, or thereabouts.’ 

“But I made up my mind right there on the spot 
that that sort of thing wouldn’t suit me. The very 
idea of shipping again on a merchant- vessel made the 
blood run cold inside of me, and I swore to myself 
that I wouldn’t do it. 

“To be sure, I wouldn’t give up all notion of a lark. 
A sailor with money— and I don’t believe there ever 
was an able-bodied seaman with more money than I 
had— who doesn’t lark, at least to some degree, has 
no right to call himself a whole-souled mariner. So I 
made up my mind to have one lark, and then stop.” 

Mrs. Cliff’s countenance clouded. “I am sorry, Mr. 
Burke,” said she, “that you thought it necessary to do 
that. I do hope you didn’t go on one of those hor- 
rible-sprees, do they call them?” 

49 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


“Oh, no ! ” interrupted Burke, “I didn’t do anything 
of that kind. If I’d begun with a bottle, I’d have 
ended with nothing but a cork, and a badly burnt one 
at that. No, ma’am ! drinking isn’t in my line. I 
don’t take anything of that sort, except at meals, and 
then only the best wine in genteel quantities. But I 
was bound to have one lark, and then I would stop, 
and begin to live like a merchant tailor with no family 
nor poor relations.” 

“ But what did you do ? ” asked Mrs. Cliff. “If it was 
a lark without liquor, I want to hear about it.” 

“It was a temperance lark, ma’am,” said Burke, 
“and this is what it was. 

“Now, though I have been to sea ever since I was 
a boy, I never had command of any kind of craft, and 
it struck me that I would like to finish up my life on 
the ocean wave by taking command of a vessel. It is 
generally understood that riches will give you any- 
thing you want, and I said to myself that my riches 
should give me that. I didn’t want a sailin’ -vessel. 
I was tired of sailin’ -vessels. I wanted a steamer. And 
when I commanded a steamer for a little while, I would 
stop short, and be a landsman for the rest of my 
life. 

“So I went up to Brest, where I thought I might 
find some sort of steamer which might suit me, and in 
that harbor I did find an English steamer, which had 
discharged her cargo, and was expectin’ to sail again, 
pretty much in ballast and brandy, so far as I could 
make out. I went to this vessel, and I made an offer 
to her captain to charter her for an excursion of one 
week— that was all I wanted. 

“Well, I’m not going to bother you, Mrs. Cliff, with 
50 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


all that was said and done about this little business, 
which seemed simple enough, but which wasn’t. 
There are people in this world who think that if you 
have money you can buy anything you want, but such 
people might as well get ready to change their opin- 
ions if they ever expect to come into money.” 

“That is true,” said Mrs. Cliff. “Every word of it 
is true, as I have found out for myself ! ” 

“Well,” continued Burke, “there had to be a lot 
of telegraphin’ to the owners in London, and a general 
fuss with the officers of the port about papers, and all 
that, but I got the business through all right, for if 
money won’t get you everything, it’s a great help in 
making things slip along easy. And so one fine after- 
noon I found myself on board that steamer as com- 
mander for one week. 

“Of course, I didn’t want to give orders to the 
crew, but I intended to give my orders to the captain, 
and tell him what he was to do, and what he was not 
to do, for one week. He didn’t like that very much, 
for he was inclined to bulldogism, but I paid him 
extra wages, and he agreed to knuckle under to me. 

“So I gave him orders to sail out of the harbor and 
straight to the island of Ushant, some twenty-five miles 
to the west of northwest. 

iU There’s no use going there,’ said the captain — his 
name was Dork. 1 There’s nothing on that blasted bit 
of rock for you to see. There’s no port I could run 
this steamer into.’ 

“I had been studying out my business on the chart, 
and this little island just suited my idea, and though 
the name was Ushant, I said to him, 1 You shall,’ and 
I ordered him to sail to that island and lay to a mile or 

51 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


two to the westward, and as to the landing, he needn’t 
talk about that until I mentioned it myself. 

“So when we got about a couple of miles to the 
west of Ushant, we lay to. Now, I knew we were on 
the forty-eighth parallel of latitude, for I had looked 
that out on the chart, so I said to Captain Dork : 

“‘Now, sir!’ says I, ‘I want you to head your 
vessel, sir, due west, and then to steam straight ahead 
for a hundred miles, keepin’ your vessel just as near 
as you can on that line of latitude.’ ” 

“I see ! ” said Mrs. Cliff, very much interested. “If 
he once got on that line of latitude, and kept sailing 
west without turning one way or the other, he would 
be bound to keep on it.” 

“That’s exactly it ! ” said Mr. Burke. “ ’Twas 
pretty near midnight when we started off to run along 
the forty-eighth parallel, but I kept my eyes on the 
man at the wheel, and on the compass, and I let them 
know that that ship was under the command of an 
able-bodied seaman who knew what he was about, and 
if they skipped to one side of that line or to the other 
he would find it out in no time. 

“I went below once to take a nap, but, as I promised 
the fellow at the wheel ten shillings if he would keep 
her head due west, and told him he would be sure to 
wake me up if he didn’t, I felt certain we wouldn’t 
skip the line of latitude. 

“Well, that steamer, which was called the Duke of 
Dorchester , and which was a vessel of not more than a 
thousand tons, wasn’t much of a sailer, or perhaps 
they was saving coal, I don’t know which, and, not 
knowing how much coal ought to be used, I kept my 
mouth shut on that point. But I had the log thrown 
52 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


a good deal, and I found that we never quite came 
up to ten knots an hour, and when we took an obser- 
vation at noon the next day, we saw that we hadn’t 
quite done the hundred miles ; but a little before one 
o’clock we did it, and then I ordered the captain to 
stop the engine and lay to. 

“ There was a brig about a mile away, and when 
she saw us layin’ to, she put about and made for us, 
and when she was near enough she hailed to know if 
anything was the matter. She was a French brig, but 
Captain Dork understood her, and I told him to bid 
her good morning, and to tell her that nothin’ was 
the matter, but that we were just stoppin’ to rest. I 
don’t know what he did tell her, but she put about 
her helm and was off again on her own business. 

“‘Now,’ said I to Captain Dork, ‘I want you to back 
this steamer due east to the island of Ushant.’ 

“He looked at me and began to swear. He took me 
for a maniac,— a wild, crazy man,— and told me the best 
thing I could do would be to go below and turn in, 
and he would take me back to my friends, if I had 
any. 

“I didn’t want to tell him what I was up to, but I 
found I had to, and so I explained to him that I was 
a rich sailor takin’ a lark, and the lark I wanted to 
take was to sail on a parallel of latitude a hundred 
miles in a steamer, and then to back that steamer 
along that same parallel to the place where she started 
from. I didn’t believe that there was ever a ship in 
the world that had done that, and bein’ on a lark, I 
wanted to do it, and was willin’ to pay for it ; and if 
his engineers and his crew grumbled about backing 
the steamer for a hundred miles, he could explain to 
53 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


them how the matter stood, and tell them that, bein’ 
on a lark, I was willin’ to pay for all extra trouble I 
might put them to, and for any disturbances in their 
minds which might rise from sailin’ a vessel in a way 
which didn’t seem to be accordin’ to the ordinary rules 
of navigation. 

“Now, when Captain Dork knew that I was a rich 
sailor on a lark, he understood me, and he made no 
more objections, though he said he wouldn’t have 
spent his money in that way ; and when he told his 
crew and his engineers and men about the extra pay, 
they understood the matter, and they agreed to back 
her along the forty-eighth parallel just as nigh as they 
could until they lay to two miles west of the island of 
Ushant. 

“So back we went, and they kept her due east just 
as nigh as they could, and they seemed to take an 
interest in it, as if all of them wanted me to have as 
good a lark as I could for my money, and we didn’t 
skip that parallel very much, although it wasn’t an 
easy job, I can tell you, to keep her head due west 
and her stern due east, and steam backwards. They 
had to do a lot of things that you wouldn’t understand, 
madam, such as running a spar out to stern to take 
sight by.” 

“I declare,” said Mrs. Cliff, “that sort of sailing 
must have astonished any ship that saw it. Did you 
meet any other vessels % ” 

“Oh, yes,” said Burke. “After daybreak we fell in 
with a good many sail and some steamers, and most of 
them ran close and hailed us, but there wasn’t any 
answer to give them, except that we were returning 
to port, and didn’t want no help. But some of the 
54 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 

skippers of the smaller crafts were so full of curiosity 
that they stuck to us, and when we arrived off Ushant, 
which wasn’t until nearly dark the next day, the Duke 
of Dorchester had a convoy of five sloops, two schoon- 
ers, a brig, eight pilot-boats, and four tugs.” 

Although Mr. Burke had said that he was going to 
make very short work with his story, it had already 
occupied a good deal of time, and he was not half 
through with it ; but Mrs. Cliff listened with the 
greatest interest, and the rich sailor went on with his 
recital of adventures. 

“Now, when I had finished scoring that forty-eighth 
parallel backward and forward for a hundred miles, I 
took out my purse and I paid that captain and all the 
crew what I promised to give them, and then we 
steamed back to Brest, where I told him to drop an- 
chor and make himself comfortable. 

“I stayed on board for a day and a night, just to get 
my fill feeling I was in command of a steamer, before 
I gave up a seafaring life forever. I threw up the 
rest of the week that I was entitled to, and went 
ashore, and my lark was over. 

“I went to England and took passage for home, and 
I had a first-class state-room, and laid in a lot of good 
clothes before I started. I don’t think I ever had 
greater comfort in my life than sittin’ on deck, 
smokin’ a good cigar, and watchin’ the able-bodied 
seamen at their work. 

“I hope I’m not tiring you, madam, but I’m trying 
to cut things as short as I can. It’s often said that a 
sailor is all at sea when he is on shore, but I was a 
country fellow before I was a sailor, and land doings 
come naturally to me when I fix my mind on them. 

55 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


“I’d made up my mind I was going to build my 
mother a house on Cape Cod, but when I got home 1 
thought it better to buy her one already built, and 
that’s what I did, and I stayed there with her a little 
while, but I didn’t like it. I’d had a notion of having 
another house near my mother’s, but I gave up that. 
There’s too much sea about Cape Cod. 

“Now, she liked it, for she’s a regular sailor’s 
mother, but I couldn’t feel that I was really a rich 
fellow livin’ ashore until I got out of hearin’ of the 
ocean, and out of smellin’ of salt and tar. So I made 
up my mind that I’d go inland, and settle somewhere 
on a place of my own, where I might have command 
of some sort of farm. 

“I didn’t know just exactly what I wanted, nor just 
exactly where I wanted to go, so I thought it best to 
look around a little and hold council with somebody 
or other. I couldn’t hold council with my mother, 
because she wanted me to buy a ship and take com- 
mand of her. And then I thought of Captain Horn, 
and goin’ to ask him. But the captain is a great 
man—” 

“Indeed,' he is!” exclaimed Mrs. Cliff. “We all 
know that!” 

“But he is off on his own business,” continued 
Burke, “and what sort of a princely concern he’s got 
on hand I don’t know. Anyway, he wouldn’t want 
me followin’ him about and botherin’ him. So I 
thought of everybody I could, and at last it struck me 
that there wasn’t anybody better than you, Mrs. Cliff, 
to give me the points I wanted, for I always liked you, 
Mrs. Cliff, and I consider you a woman of good sense 
down to the keel. And as I heard you were livin’ in 
56 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


sort of a country place, I thought you’d be the very 
person that I could come and talk to and get points. 

“I felt a hankerin’, anyway, after some of the old 
people of the Castor ; for, after having had all that 
money divided among us, it made me feel as if we 
belonged to the same family. I suppose that was one 
reason why I felt a sort of drawing to you, you know. 
Anyway, I knew where you lived, and I came right 
here, and arrived this morning. After I’d taken a 
room at the hotel, I asked for your house and came 
straight here.” 

u And very glad am I to see you, Mr. Burke ! ” said 
Mrs. Cliff, speaking honestly from the bottom of her 
heart. 

She had not known Burke very well, but she had 
always looked upon him as a fine, manly sailor ; and 
now that he had come to her, she was conscious of the 
family feeling which he had spoken of, and she was 
very glad to see him. 

She saw that Burke was very anxious to know why 
she was living in a plain fashion in this unpretentious 
house, but she found it would be very difficult to ex- 
plain the matter to him. Hers was not a straightfor- 
ward tale, which she could simply sit and tell, and, 
moreover, although she liked Burke, and thought it 
probable that he was a man of a very good heart, she 
did not believe that he was capable of advising her in 
the perplexities which her wealth had thrown about 
her. 

Still, she talked to him, and told him what she 
thought she could make him properly understand, and 
so, from one point to another, she went on until she 
had given the ex-sailor a very good idea of the state 
57 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


of her mind in regard to what she was doing, and 
what she thought she ought to do. 

When Mrs. Cliff had finished speaking, Burke thrust 
his hands into his pockets, leaned back in his chair, 
and looked at the ceiling of the room, the walls, and 
the floor. He wanted to say something, but he was 
not prepared to do so. His mind, still nautical, desired 
to take an observation and determine the latitude and 
longitude of Mrs. Cliff, but the skies were very much 
overcast. 

At this moment Willy Croup knocked at the parlor 
door, and when Mrs. Cliff went to her, she asked if the 
gentleman was going to stay to dinner. 

Mrs. Cliff was surprised. She had no idea it was so 
late, but she went back to Mr. Burke and urged him 
to stay to dinner. He consented instantly, declaring 
that this was the first time that anybody not his 
mother had asked him to dinner since he came into 
his fortune. 

When Mrs. Cliff had excused herself to give some 
directions about the meal, Burke walked about the 
parlor, carefully examining everything in it. When 
he had finished his survey, he sat down and shook his 
head. 

“The trouble with her is,” he said to himself, “that 
she’s so dreadfully afraid of running ashore that she 
will never reach any port, that’s what’s the matter ! ” 

When Mrs. Cliff returned, she asked her visitor if 
he would like to see her house, and she showed him 
over it with great satisfaction, for she had filled every 
room with all the handsome and appropriate things she 
could get into it. Burke noticed everything, and 
spoke with approbation of many things, but as he 
58 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 

walked behind his hostess, he kept shaking his 
head. 

He went down to dinner, and was introduced to 
Willy Croup, who had been ordered to go and dress 
herself, that she might appear at the meal. He shook 
hands with her very cordially, and then looked all 
around the little dining-room, taking in every feature 
of its furnishing and adornment. When he had fin- 
ished, he would have been glad to shake his head again, 
but this would have been observed. 

When the dinner came on, however, Mr. Burke had 
no desire to shake his head. It was what might have 
been called a family dinner, but there was such a 
variety, such an abundance, everything was so admi- 
rably cooked, and the elderberry wine, which was pro- 
duced in his honor, was so much more rich and fragrant 
to his taste than the wines he had had at hotels, that 
Mr. Burke was delighted. 

Now he felt that in forming an opinion as to Mrs. 
Cliff’s manner of living he had some grounds to stand 
upon. “What she wants,” thought he, “is all the 
solid, sensible comfort her money can give her, and 
where she knows what she wants, she gets it. But the 
trouble seems to be that in most things she doesn’t 
know what she wants ! ” 

When Mr. Burke, that afternoon, walked back to the 
hotel, wrapped in his fur-trimmed coat, and carefully 
puffing a fine Havana cigar, he had entirely forgotten 
his own plans and purposes in life, and was engrossed 
in those of Mrs. Cliff. 


59 


CHAPTER VII 

ME. BUEKE ACCEPTS A EESPONSIBILITY 

Willy Ceoup was very much pleased with Mr. Burke, 
and she was glad that she had allowed herself to be 
persuaded to sit at table with such a fine gentleman. 

He treated her with extreme graciousness of man- 
ner, and it was quite plain to her that if he recognized 
her in her silk gown as the person who, in a calico 
dress, had opened the front door for him, he had de- 
termined to make her feel that he had not noticed 
the coincidence. 

He was a good deal younger than she was, but 
Willy’s childlike disposition had projected itself into 
her maturer years, and in some respects there was a 
greater sympathy, quickly perceived by both, between 
her and Mr. Burke than yet existed between him and 
Mrs. Cliff. After some of the amusing anecdotes which 
he told, the visitor looked first toward Willy to see 
how she appreciated them ; but it must not be sup- 
posed that he was not extremely attentive and deferen- 
tial to his hostess. 

If Willy had known what a brave, gallant, and dar- 
ing sailor he was, she would have made a hero of him ; 
but Mrs. Cliff had never said much about Burke, and 
60 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


Willy simply admired him as the best specimen of the 
urbane man of the world with whom she had yet met. 

The two women talked a good deal about their 
visitor that evening, and Mrs. Cliff said that she hoped 
he was not going to leave town very soon, for it was 
possible that she might be of help to him if he wanted 
to settle down in that part of the country. 

The next morning, soon after breakfast, when Willy 
opened the front gate of the yard and stepped out 
upon the street with a small covered basket in her 
hand, she had gone but a very little distance when she 
met Mr. Burke, with his furs, his cane, and his silk 
hat. The latter was lifted very high as its owner 
saluted Miss Croup. 

Willy, who was of a fair complexion, reddened 
somewhat as she shook hands with the gentleman, 
informed him, in answer to his questions, that Mrs. 
Cliff was very well, that she was very well, that the 
former was at home and would be glad to see him, 
and that she herself was going into the business part 
of the town to make some little purchases. 

She would have been better pleased if she had not 
been obliged to tell him where she was going, but she 
could not do otherwise when he said he supposed she 
was walking for the benefit of the fresh morning air. 
He added to her discomfiture by requesting to be 
allowed to walk with her, and by offering to carry 
her basket. This threw Willy’s mind into a good 
deal of a flutter. Why could she not have met this 
handsomely dressed gentleman sometime when she 
was not going to the grocery store to buy such things 
as stove-blacking and borax? It seemed to her as if 
these commodities must suggest, to the mind of any 
61 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


one, rusty iron and obtrusive insects, and as articles 
altogether outside the pale of allusion in high-toned 
social intercourse. 

It also struck her as a little odd that a gentleman 
should propose to accompany a lady when she was 
going on domestic errands ; but then, this gentleman 
was different from any she had known, and there were 
many ways of the world with which she was not at all 
acquainted. 

Mr. Burke immediately began to speak of the visit 
of the day 'before. He had enjoyed seeing Mrs. Cliff 
again, and he had never sat down to a better dinner. 

“Yes,” said Willy, “she likes good eatin’, and she 
knows what it is, and if she had a bigger dining-room 
she would often invite people to dinner, and I expect 
the house would be quite lively, as she seems more 
given to company than she used to be, and that’s all 
right, considerin’ she’s better able to afford it.” 

Mr. Burke took a deep, satisfied breath. The op- 
portunity had already come to him to speak his mind. 

“Afford it ! ” said he. “I should think so ! Mrs. 
Cliff must be very rich. She is worth, I should say 
—well, I don’t know what to say, not knowing exactly 
and precisely what each person got when the grand 
division was made.” 

Willy’s loyalty to Mrs. Cliff prompted her to put 
her in as good a light as possible before this man of 
the world, and her own self-esteem prompted her to 
show that, being a friend and relative of this rich lady, 
she was not ignorant of her affairs in life. 

“Oh, she’s rich!” said Willy. “I can’t say, of 
course, just how much she has, but I’m quite sure 
that she owns at least—” 


62 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


Willy wished to put the amount of the fortune at 
one hundred thousand dollars, but she was a little 
afraid that this might be too much, and yet she did 
not wish to make the amount any smaller than could 
possibly be helped. So she thought of seventy-five, 
and then eighty, and finally remarked that Mrs. Cliff 
must be worth at least ninety thousand dollars. Mr. 
Burke looked up at the sky and wanted to whistle. 

“ Ninety thousand dollars ! ” he said to himself. “I 
know positively that it was at least four millions at 
the time of the division, and she says she’s richer now 
than she was then, which is easy to be accounted for 
by the interest coming in. I see her game ! She 
wants to keep shady about her big fortune because 
her neighbors would expect her to live up to it, 
and she knows it isn’t in her to live up to it. Now 
I’m beginning to see through the fog.” 

“It seems to me,” said he, “that Mrs. Cliff ought to 
have a bigger dining-room.” 

This remark pulled up the flood-gate to Willy’s ac- 
cumulated sentiments on the subject, and they poured 
forth in a rushing stream. 

Yes, indeed, Mrs. Cliff ought to have a bigger din- 
ing-room, and other rooms to the house, and there 
was the front fence, and no end of things she ought to 
have, and it was soon made clear to Mr. Burke that 
Willy had been lying awake at night thinking, and 
thinking, and thinking about what Mrs. Cliff ought to 
have and what she did not have. She said she really 
and honestly believed that there was no reason at all 
why she did not have them, except that she did not 
want to seem to be setting herself up above her neigh- 
bors. In fact, Mrs. Cliff had told Willy two or three 

63 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


times, when there had been a discussion about prices, 
that she was able to do anything she wanted, and if 
she could do that, why did she not do it? People 
were all talking about it, and they had talked and 
talked her fortune down until in some families it was 
not any more than ten thousand dollars. 

On and on talked Willy, while Mr. Burke said 
scarcely a word, but he listened with the greatest 
attention. They had now walked on until they had 
reached the main street of the little town, gone 
through the business part where the shops were, and 
out into the suburbs. Suddenly Willy stopped. 

“Oh, dear ! ” she exclaimed, “I’ve gone too far ! I 
was so interested in talking that I didn’t think.” 

“I’m sorry,” said Mr. Burke, “that I’ve taken you 
out of your way. Can’t I get you what you want and 
save you the trouble ? ” 

Now Willy was in another flutter. After the walk 
with the fur-trimmed coat, and the talk about dollars 
by thousands and tens of thousands, she could not 
come down to mention borax and blacking. 

“Oh, no, thank you ! ” said she, trying her best to 
think of some other errand than the one she had come 
upon. “I don’t believe it’s finished yet, and it’s 
hardly worth while to stop. There was one of those 
big cushion-covers that she brought from Paris that 
was to be filled with down, but I don’t believe it’s 
ready yet, and I needn’t stop.” 

Mr. Burke could not but think it a little odd that 
such a small basket should be brought for the purpose 
of carrying home a large down cushion, but he said 
nothing further on the subject. He had had a most 
gratifying conversation with this communicative and 
64 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


agreeable person, and his interest in Mrs. Cliff was 
greatly increased. 

When he neared the hotel, he took leave of his com- 
panion, saying that he would call in the afternoon, 
and Willy, after she had looked back and was sure he 
was out of sight, slipped into the grocery store and got 
her borax and blacking. 

Mr. Burke called on Mrs. Cliff that afternoon, and 
the next morning, and two or three times the day 
after. They came to be very much interested in each 
other, and Burke in his mind compared this elderly 
friend with his mother, and not to the advantage of 
the latter. 

Burke’s mother was a woman who would always 
have her own way, and wanted advice and counsel 
from no one, but Mrs. Cliff was a very different 
woman. She was so willing to listen to what Burke 
said,— and his remarks were nearly always on the 
subject of the proper expenditure of money,— and ap- 
peared to attach so much importance to his opin- 
ions, that he began to feel that a certain responsibility, 
not at all an unpleasant one, was forcing itself upon 
him. 

He did not think that he should try to constitute 
himself her director, or even to assume the position of 
professional suggester, but in an amateur way he sug- 
gested, and she, without any idea of depending upon 
him for suggestions, found herself more and more in- 
clined to accept them as he continued to offer them. 

She soon discovered that he was the only person in 
Plainton who knew her real fortune, and this was a 
bond of sympathy and union between them, and she 
became aware that she had succeeded in impressing 
65 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


him with her desire to live upon said fortune in such 
a manner that it would not interfere with her friend- 
ships or associations, and her lifelong ideas of comfort 
and pleasure. 

The people of the town talked a great deal about the 
fine gentleman at the hotel, but they knew he was one 
of the people who had become rich in consequence 
of Captain Horn’s discovery, and some of them, good 
friends of Mrs. Cliff, felt sorry that she had not prof- 
ited to as great a degree by that division as this gen- 
tleman of opulent taste, who occupied two of the 
best rooms in the hotel, and obliged Mr. Williams to 
send to Harrington, and even to Boston, for provisions 
suitable to his epicurean tastes, and who drove around 
the country with a carriage and pair at least once a 
day. 

When Burke was ready to make his suggestions, he 
thought he would begin in a mild fashion, and see how 
Mrs. Cliff would take them. 

“If I was in your place, madam,” said he, “the first 
thing I would do would be to have a lot of servants. 
There’s nothin’ money can give a person that’s better 
than plenty of people to do things— lots of them on 
hand all the time, like the crew of a ship.” 

“But I couldn’t do that, Mr. Burke,” said she. “My 
house is too small. I haven’t any place for servants 
to sleep. When I enlarge my house, of course, I may 
have more servants.” 

“Oh, I wouldn’t wait for that,” said he. “Until then 
you could board them at the hotel.” 

This suggestion was strongly backed by Willy 
Croup, and Mrs. Cliff took the matter to heart. She 
collected together a domestic establishment of as many 
66 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


servants as she thought her establishment could pos- 
sibly provide with work, and although she did not 
send them to be guests at the hotel, she obtained 
lodging for them at the house of a poor woman in the 
neighborhood. 

When she had done this, she felt that she had made 
a step in the direction of doing her duty by her 
money. 

Mr. Burke made another suggestion. “If I was 
you/ 7 said he, “I wouldn’t wait for times or seasons, 
for in these days people build in winter the same as in 
summer. I would put up that addition just as soon 
as it could be done.” 

Mrs. Cliff sighed. “I suppose that’s what I should 
do,” said she. “I feel that it is. But you know how I 
hate to begin it.” 

“But you needn’t hate it,” said he. “There isn’t 
the least reason in the world for any objection to it. 
I’ve a plan which will make it all clear sailin’. I’ve 
been thinkin’ it out, and this is the way I’ve thought 
it.” 

Mrs. Cliff listened with great attention. 

“Now, then,” said Burke, “next to you on the west 
is your own lot that you’re going to put your new 
dining-room on. Am I right there ? ” 

“Yes,” said Mrs. Cliff, “you are right there.” 

“Well, next to that is the little house inhabited by 
a family named Barnard, I’m told, and next to that 
there’s a large corner lot with an old house on it that’s 
for sale. Now, then, if I was you, I’d buy that corner 
lot, and clear away the old house, and I’d build my 
dining-room right there. I’d get a good architect, and 
let him plan you a first-class, A No. 1 dining-room, 

67 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


with other rooms to it above it and below it and 
around it, with porticos, and piazzas, and little bal- 
conies to the second story, and everything that any- 
body might want attached to a first-class dining- 
room.” 

Mrs. Cliff laughed. “But what good would it be 
to me away up there at the corner of the next 
street?” 

“The reason for putting it there,” said Burke, “is to 
get clear of all the noise and dirt of building, and the 
fuss and bother, that you dislike so much. And then, 
when it was all finished, and painted and papered, 
and the carpets down, if you like, Fd have it moved 
right up here against your house, just where you want 
it. When everything was in order, and you was 
ready, you could cut a door right through into the 
new dining-room, and there you’d be. They’ve got so 
in the way of slidin’ buildings along on timbers now 
that they can travel about almost like the old stage- 
coaches, and you needn’t have your cellar dug until 
you’re ready to clap your new dining-room right 
over it.” 

Mrs. Cliff smiled, and Willy listened with open 
eyes. “But how about the Barnard family and their 
house?” said she. 

“Oh, I’d buy them a lot somewhere else,” said he, 
“and move their house. They wouldn’t object if you 
paid them extra. What I’d have if I was in your 
place, Mrs. Cliff, would be a clear lot down to the 
next street, and I’d have a garden in it, with flowers, 
and gravel walks, and greenhouses, and all that sort 
of thing.” 

“All stretching itself out in the sunshine under the 
68 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


new dining-room windows ! ” cried Willy Croup, with 
sparkling eyes. 

Mrs. Cliff sat and considered, a cheerful glow in her 
veins. Here, really, was an opportunity of stemming 
the current of her income without shocking any of her 
social instincts ! 


69 


CHAPTEK VIII 

MR. BURKE BEGINS TO MAKE THINGS 
MOVE IN PLAINTON 

It was not long before Mr. Burke began to be a very 
important personage in Plainton. It was generally 
known that he intended to buy land and settle in the 
neighborhood, and as he was a rich man, evidently 
inclined to be liberal in his expenditures, this was a 
matter of great interest both in social and business 
circles. 

He often drove out to survey the surrounding coun- 
try, but when he was perceived several times standing 
in front of an old house at the corner of the street near 
Mrs. Cliff’s residence, it was supposed that he might 
have changed his mind in regard to a country place, 
and was thinking of building in the town. 

He was not long considered a stranger in the place. 
Mrs. Cliff frequently spoke of him as a valued friend, 
and there was reason to believe that, in the various 
adventures and dangers of which they had heard, 
Mr. Burke had been of great service to their old 
friend and neighbor, and it was not unlikely that his 
influence had had a good deal to do with her receipt 
70 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


of a portion of the treasure discovered by the com- 
mander of the expedition. 

Several persons had said more than once that they 
could not see why Mrs. Cliff should have had any 
claim upon this treasure, except, perhaps, to the ex- 
tent of her losses. But if she had had a friend in 
camp,— and Mr. Burke was certainly a friend,— it was 
easy to understand why he would do the best he could, 
at a time when money was so plenty, for the benefit 
of one whom he knew to be a widow in straitened 
circumstances. 

So Mr. Burke was looked upon not only as a man of 
wealth and superior tastes in regard to food and per- 
sonal comfort, but as a man of a liberal and generous 
disposition. Furthermore, there was no pride about 
him. Often, on his return from his drives, his barouche 
and pair, which Mr. Williams had obtained in Har- 
rington for his guest’s express benefit, would stop in 
front of Mrs. Cliff’s modest residence, and two or 
three times he had taken that good lady and Willy 
Croup to drive with him. 

But Mrs. Cliff did not care very much for the ba- 
rouche. She would have preferred a little phaeton 
and a horse which she could drive herself. As for 
her horse and the two-seated wagon, that was declared 
by most of the ladies of the town to be a piece of ab- 
solute extravagance. It was used almost exclusively 
by Willy, who was known to deal with shops in the 
most distant part of the town in order that she might 
have an excuse, it was said, to order out that wagon 
and have Andrew Marks to drive her. 

Of course, they did not know how often Mrs. Cliff 
had said to herself that it was really not a waste of 

71 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


money to keep this horse, for Willy was no longer 
young, and if she could save her any weary steps, she 
ought to do it, and at the same time relieve a little 
the congested state of her income. 

Mr. Burke was not of an unknown family. He 
was quite willing to talk about himself, especially 
to Mr. Williams, as they sat and smoked together in 
the evening, and he said a good deal about his father, 
who had owned two ships at Nantucket, and who, 
according to his son, was one of the most influential 
citizens of the place. 

Mr. Williams had heard of the Burkes of Nan- 
tucket, and he did not think any the less of the one 
who was now his guest, because his father’s ships had 
come to grief during his boyhood, and he had been 
obliged to give up a career on shore, which he would 
have liked, and go to sea, which he did not like. A 
brave spirit in poverty, coupled with a liberal disposi- 
tion in opulence, was enough to place Mr. Burke on a 
very high plane in the opinions of the people of 
Plainton. 

Half a mile outside the town, upon a commanding 
eminence, there was a handsome house which belonged 
to a family named Buskirk. These people were really 
not of Plainton, although their post- office and railroad 
station were there. They were rich city people who 
came to this country place for the summer and au- 
tumn, and who had nothing to do with the town folks, 
except in a limited degree to deal with some of them. 

This family lived in great style, and their coachman 
and footman in knee-breeches, their handsome horses 
with docked tails, the beautiful grounds about their 
house, a feebly shooting fountain on the front lawn, 
72 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


were a source of anxious disquietude in the mind of 
Mrs. Cliff. They were like the skeletons which were 
brought in at the feasts of the ancients. 

“If I should ever be obliged to live like the Bus- 
kirks on the hill/’ the good lady would say to herself, 
“I would wish myself back to what I used to be, ask- 
ing only that my debts be paid.” 

Even the Buskirks took notice of Mr. Burke. In 
him they thought it possible they might have a neigh- 
bor. If he should buy a place and build a fine house 
somewhere in their vicinity, which they thought the 
only vicinity in which any one should build a fine 
house, it might be a very good thing, and would cer- 
tainly not depreciate the value of their property. A 
wealthy bachelor might, indeed, be a more desirable 
neighbor than a large family. 

The Buskirks had been called upon when they 
came to Plainton, a few years before, by several fami- 
lies. Of course, the clergyman, Mr. Perley, and his wife, 
paid them a visit, and the two Misses Thorpdyke 
hired a carriage and drove to the house, and, although 
they did not see the family, they left their cards. 

After some time these and other calls were returned, 
but in the most ceremonious manner, and there ended 
the social intercourse between the fine house on the 
hill and the town. 

As the Buskirks drove to Harrington to church, 
they did not care about the Perleys, and although 
they seemed somewhat inclined to cultivate the 
Thorpdykes, who were known to be of such an excel- 
lent old family, the Thorpdykes did not reciprocate 
the feeling, and, having declined an invitation to tea, 
received no more. 


73 


MRS. CLIFF’S YACHT 


But now Mr. Buskirk, who had come up on Satur- 
day to spend Sunday with his family, actually called 
on Mr. Burke at the hotel. The wealthy sailor was 
not at home, and the city gentleman left his card. 

When Mr. Burke showed this card to Mrs. Cliff, her 
face clouded. “Are you going to return the visit?” 
said she. 

“Oh, yes ! ” answered Burke. “Some of these days 
I will drive up and look in on them. I expect they 
have got a fancy parlor, and I would like to sit in it 
awhile and think of the days when I used to swab the 
deck. There’s nothin’ more elevatin’, to my mind, 
than just that sort of thing. I do it sometimes when I 
am eatin’ my meals at the hotel, and the better I can 
bring to mind the bad coffee and hardtack, the better 
I like what’s set before me.” 

Mrs. Cliff sighed. She wished Mr. Buskirk had kept 
away from the hotel. 

As soon as Mrs. Cliff had consented to the erection 
of the new dining-room on the corner lot,— and she 
did not hesitate after Mr. Burke had explained to her 
how easy it would be to do the whole thing almost 
without her knowing anything about it, if she did not 
want to bother herself in the matter,— the enterprise 
was begun. 

Burke, who was of an active mind, and who de- 
lighted in managing and directing, undertook to ar- 
range everything. There was no agreement between 
Mrs. Cliff and himself that he should do this, but it 
pleased him so much to do it, and it pleased her so 
much to have him do it, that it was done as a thing 
which might be expected to happen naturally. 

Sometimes she said he was giving her too much of 
74 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


his time, but he scorned such an idea. He had noth- 
ing to do, for he did not believe that he should buy 
a place for himself until spring, because he wanted to 
pick out a spot to live in when the leaves were coming 
out instead of when they were dropping off, and the 
best fun he knew of would be to have command of a 
big crew, and to keep them at work building Mrs. 
Cliff’s dining-room. 

“I should be glad to have you attend to the con- 
tracts,” said Mrs. Cliff, “and all I ask is that, while 
you don’t waste anything,— for I think it is a sin to 
waste money, no matter how much you may have,— 
you will help me as much as you can to make me feel 
that I really am making use of my income.” 

Burke agreed to do all this, always under her ad- 
vice, of course, and very soon he had his crew, and 
they were hard at work. He sent to Harrington and 
employed an architect to make plans, and as soon as 
the general basis of these was agreed upon, the build- 
ing was put in charge of a contractor, who, under Mr. 
Burke, began to collect material and workmen from 
all available quarters. 

“We’ve got to work sharp, for the new building 
must be moored alongside Mrs. Cliff’s house before the 
first snow-storm.” 

A lawyer of Plainton undertook the purchase of the 
land, and as the payments were to be made in cash, 
and as there was no chaffering about prices, this busi- 
ness was soon concluded. 

As to the Barnard family, Mr. Burke himself under- 
took negotiations with them. When he had told them 
of the handsome lot on another street which would be 
given them in exchange, and how he would gently 

75 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


slide their house to the new location, and put it down 
on any part of the lot which they might choose, and 
guaranteed that it should be moved so gently that the 
clocks would not stop ticking, nor the tea or coffee 
spill out of their cups, if they chose to take their 
meals on board during the voyage, and as, further- 
more, he promised a handsome sum to recompense 
them for the necessity of leaving behind their well, 
which he could not undertake to move, and for any 
minor inconveniences and losses, their, consent to the 
change of location was soon obtained. 

Four days after this Burke started the Barnard 
house on its travels. As soon as he had made his 
agreement with the family, he had brought a man 
down from Harrington whose business it was to move 
houses, and had put the job into his hands. He stipu- 
lated that at 1 P. M. on the day agreed upon the house 
was to begin to move, and he arranged with the mason 
to whom he had given the contract for preparing the 
cellar on the new lot, that he should begin operations 
at the same hour. 

He then offered a reward of two hundred dollars to 
be given to the mover if he got his house to its desti- 
nation before the cellar was done, or to the mason if he 
finished the cellar before the house arrived. 

The Barnards had an early dinner, which was cooked 
on a kerosene stove, their chimney having been taken 
down, but they had not finished washing the dishes 
when their house began to move. 

Mrs. Cliff and Willy ran to bid them good-by, and 
all the Barnards, old and young, leaned out of a back 
window and shook hands. 

Mr. Burke had arranged a sort of gang-plank with 
76 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


a railing, if any of them wanted to go on shore— that 
is, step on terra firma — during the voyage. But 
Samuel Rolands, the mover, heedful of his special 
prize, urged upon them not to get out any oftener 
than could be helped, because when they wished to 
use the gang-plank he would be obliged to stop. 

There were two boys in the family, who were able to 
jump off and on whenever they pleased ; but boys are 
boys, and very different from other people. 

Houses had been moved in Plainton before, but 
never had any inhabitants of the place beheld a build- 
ing glide along upon its timber course with, speaking 
comparatively, the rapidity of this travelling home. 

Most of the citizens of the place who had leisure 
came at some time that afternoon to look at the mov- 
ing house, and many of them walked by its side, 
talking to the Barnards, who, as the sun was warm, 
stood at an open window, very much excited by the 
spirit of adventure, and quite willing to converse. 

Over and over they assured their neighbors that 
they would never know they were moving if they did 
not see the trees and things slowly passing by them. 

As they crossed the street and passed between two 
houses on the opposite side, the inhabitants of these 
gathered at their windows, and the conversation was 
very lively with the Barnards, as the house of the 
latter passed slowly by. 

All night that house moved on, and the young 
people of the village accompanied it until eleven 
o’clock, when the Barnards went to bed. 

Mr. Burke divided his time between watching the 
moving house— at which all the men who could be em- 
ployed in any way, and all the horses which could be 
77 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


conveniently attached to the windlasses, were working 
in watches of four hours each, in order to keep them 
fresh and vigorous— and the lot where the new cellar 
was being constructed, where the masons continued 
their labors at night, by the light of lanterns and a 
blazing bonfire fed with resinous pine. 

The excitement caused by these two scenes of activ- 
ity was such that it is probable that few of the people 
of the town went to bed sooner than the Barnard 
family. 

Early the next morning the two Barnard boys looked 
out of the window of their bedroom, and saw beneath 
them the Hastings 7 barn-yard, with the Hastings boy 
milking. They were so excited by this vision that 
they threw their shoes and stockings out at him, hav- 
ing no other missiles convenient, and for nearly half 
an hour he followed that house, trying to toss the 
articles back through the open window, while the cow 
stood waiting for the milking to be finished. 

On the evening of the third day after its departure 
from its original position, the Barnard house arrived 
on the new lot, and, to the disgust of Samuel Rolands, 
he found the cellar entirely finished and ready for him 
to place the house upon it. But Mr. Burke, who had 
been quite sure that this would be the result of the 
competition, comforted him by telling him that, as he 
had done his best, he too should have a prize equal 
to that given to the mason. This had been suggested 
by Mrs. Cliff, because, she said, they were both hard- 
working men with families, and although the house- 
mover was not a citizen of Plainton, he had once 
lived there, and therefore she was very glad of this 
opportunity of helping him along. 

78 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


As soon as this important undertaking had been 
finished, Mr. Burke was able to give his sole attention 
to the new dining-room on the corner lot. He and 
the architect had worked hard upon the plans, and 
when they were finished they had been shown to Mrs. 
Cliff. She understood them in a general way, and was 
very glad to see that such ample provisions had been 
made in regard to closets, though she was not able to 
perceive with her mind’s eye the exact dimensions of 
a room nineteen by twenty-seven, nor to appreciate 
the difference between a ceiling twelve feet high and 
another which was nine. 

However, having told Mr. Burke and the architect 
what she wanted, and both of them having told her 
what she ought to have, she determined to leave the 
whole matter in their hands. This resolution was 
greatly approved by her sailor friend, for, as the 
object of the plan of construction was to relieve her 
of all annoyance consequent upon building operations, 
the more she left everything to those who delighted 
in the turmoil of construction, the better it would be 
for all. 

Everything had been done in the plans to prevent 
interference with the neatness and comfort of Mrs. 
Cliff’s present abode. The door of the new dining- 
room was so arranged that Mien it was moved up to 
the old house it would come against a door in the 
latter which opened from a side hall upon a little 
porch. This porch being removed, the two doors 
would fit exactly to each other, and there would be 
none of the dust and noise consequent upon the cut- 
ting away of walls. 

So Mrs. Cliff and Willy lived on in peace, comfort, 
79 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


and quiet in their old home, while on the corner lot 
there was hammering, and banging, and sawing all 
day. Mr. Burke would have had this work go on by 
night, but the contractor refused. His men would 
work extra hours in consideration of extra induce- 
ments, but good carpenter work, he declared, could 
not be done by lantern-light. 

The people of Plainton did not at all understand 
the operations on the corner lot. Mr. Burke did not 
tell them much about it, and the contractor was not 
willing to talk. He had some doubts in regard to 
the scheme, but as he was well paid, he would do his 
best. It had been mentioned that the new building 
was to be Mrs. Cliff’s dining-room, but this idea soon 
faded out of the Plainton mind, which was not adapted 
to grasp and hold it. 

Consequently, as Mr. Burke had a great deal to do 
with the building, and as Mrs. Cliff did not appear to 
be concerned in it at all, it was generally believed 
that the gentleman at the hotel was putting up a 
house for himself on the corner lot. This knowledge 
was the only conclusion which would explain the fact 
that the house was built upon smooth horizontal 
timbers, and not upon a stone or brick foundation. 
A man who had been a sailor might fancy to build a 
house something as he would build a ship in a ship- 
yard, and not attach it permanently to the earth. 


80 


CHAPTER IX 

A MEETING OF HEIRS 

While the building operations were going on at such 
a rapid rate on the corner lot, Mrs. Cliff tried to make 
herself as happy as possible in her own home. She 
liked having enough servants to do all the work, and 
relieve both her and Willy. She liked to be able to 
drive out when she wanted to, or to invite a few of her 
friends to dinner or to tea, and to give them the 
very best the markets afforded of everything she 
thought they might like. But she was not a satisfied 
woman. 

It was true that Mr. Burke was doing all that he 
could with her money, and doing it well, she had not 
the slightest doubt j but, after all, a new dining-room 
was a matter of small importance. She had fears that, 
even after it was all finished and paid for, she would 
find that her income had gained upon her. 

As often as once a day the argument came to her 
that it would be wise for her to give away the bulk 
of her fortune in charity, and thus rid herself of the 
necessity for this depressing struggle between her 
desire to live as she wanted to live, and the obliga- 
tions to herself under which her fortune placed her. 

81 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


But she could not consent to part thus with her great 
fortune. She would not turn her back upon her 
golden opportunities. As soon as she had so deter- 
mined her life that the assertion of her riches would 
not interfere with her domestic and social affairs, she 
would be charitable enough— she would do good works 
upon a large scale. But she must first determine what 
she was to do for herself, and so let her charities begin 
at home. 

This undecided state of mind did not have a good 
effect upon her general appearance, and it was fre- 
quently remarked that her health was not what it 
used to be. Miss Nancy Shott thought there was 
nothing to wonder at in this. Mrs. Cliff had never 
been accustomed to spend money, and it was easy to 
see, from the things she had bought abroad and put 
into that little house, that she had expended a good 
deal more than she could afford, and no wonder she 
was troubled, and no wonder she was looking thin and 
sick. 

Other friends, however, did not entirely agree with 
Miss Shott. They thought their old friend was 
entirely too sensible a woman to waste a fortune, 
whether it had been large or small, which had come 
to her in so wonderful a manner, and they believed 
she had money enough to live on very comfortably. 
If this were not the case, she would never consent to 
keep a carriage almost for Willy Croup’s sole use. 

They thought, perhaps, that the example and com- 
panionship of Mr. Burke might have had an effect 
upon her. It was as likely as not that she had borne 
part of the expense of moving the Barnard house, so 
that there should be nothing between her and the 
82 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


new building. But this, as they said themselves, was 
mere surmise. Mr. Burke might fancy large grounds, 
and he was certainly able to have them if he wanted 
them. Whatever people said and thought about Mrs. 
Cliff and her money, it was generally believed that 
she was in comfortable circumstances. Still, it had to 
be admitted that she was getting on in years. 

Now arose a very important question among the 
gossips of Plainton : Who was to be Mrs. Cliff’s heir ? 

Everybody knew that Mrs. Cliff had but one blood- 
relation living, and that was Willy Croup, and no one 
who had given any thought whatever to the subject 
believed that Willy Croup would be her heir. Her 
husband had some distant relatives, but, as they had 
had nothing to do with Mrs. Cliff during the days of 
her adversity, it was not likely that she would now 
have anything to do with them, especially as any 
money she had to leave did not come through her 
husband. 

But although the simple-minded Willy Croup was 
a person who would not know how to take care of 
money if she had it, and although everybody knew 
that if Mrs. Cliff made a will she would never think 
of leaving her property to Willy, still, everybody who 
thought or talked about the matter saw the appalling 
fact staring them in their faces, that if Mrs. Cliff died 
without a will, Willy would inherit her possessions ! 

The more it was considered, the more did this un- 
pleasant contingency trouble the minds of certain of 
the female citizens of Plainton. Miss Cushing, the 
principal dressmaker of the place, was greatly con- 
cerned upon this subject, and as her parlor, where she 
generally sat at her work, was a favorite resort of 
83 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


certain ladies, who sometimes had orders to give, and 
always had a great deal to say, it was natural that 
those good women who took most to heart Mrs. Cliff’s 
heirless condition should think of Miss Cushing when- 
ever they were inclined to talk upon the subject. 

Miss Shott dropped in there one day with a very 
doleful countenance. That very morning she had 
passed Mrs. Cliff’s house on the other side of the way, 
and had seen that poor widow standing in her front 
yard, with the most dejected and miserable counte- 
nance she had ever seen on a human being. 

People might talk as much as they pleased about 
Mrs. Cliff being troubled because she had spent too 
much money. That all might be, or it might not be, 
but it was not the reason for that woman looking as if 
she was just ready to drop into a sick-bed. When 
people go to the most unhealthy regions in the whole 
world, and live in holes in the ground like hedgehogs, 
they cannot expect to come home without seeds of 
disease in their system, which are bound to come out. 
And that those seeds were now coming out in Mrs. 
Cliff no sensible person could look at her and deny. 

When Miss Cushing heard this, she felt more strongly 
convinced than ever of the importance of the subject 
upon which she and some of her friends had been talk- 
ing. But she said nothing in regard to that subject to 
Miss Shott. What she had to say, and what she had 
already said, about the future of Mrs. Cliff’s property, 
and what her particular friends had said, were mat- 
ters which none of them wanted repeated, and when 
a citizen of Plainton did not wish anything repeated, 
it was not told to Miss Shott. 

But after Miss Shott had gone, there came in Mrs. 

84 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


Ferguson, a widow lady, and shortly afterwards 
Miss Inchman, a middle-aged spinster, accompanied by 
Mrs. Wells and Mrs. Archibald, these latter both 
worthy matrons of the town. Mrs. Archibald really 
came to talk to Miss Cushing about a winter dress, but 
during the subsequent conversation she made no refer- 
ence to this errand. 

Miss Cushing was relating to Mrs. Ferguson what 
Nancy had told her when the other ladies came in, but 
Nancy Shott had stopped in at each of their houses 
and had already given them the information. 

“ Nancy always makes out things a good deal worse 
than they are / 7 said Mrs. Archibald, “but there’s 
truth in what she says. Mrs. Cliff is failing $ every- 
body can see that ! ” 

“Of course they can,” said Miss Cushing, “and I say 
that if she has any friends in Plainton,— and every- 
body knows she has,— it’s time for them to do some- 
thing ! ” 

“The trouble is what to do, and who is to do it,” 
remarked Mrs. Ferguson. 

“What to do is easy enough,” said Miss Cushing, 
“but who is to do it is another matter.” 

“And what would you do ? ” asked Mrs. Wells. “If 
she feels she needs a doctor, she has sense enough to 
send for one without waiting until her friends speak 
about it.” 

“The doctor is a different thing altogether ! ” said 
Miss Cushing. “If he comes and cures her, that’s 
neither here nor there. It isn’t the point ! But the 
danger is that, whether he comes or not, she is a 
woman well on in years, with a constitution breaking 
down under her,— that is, as far as appearances go, for, 
85 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


of course, I can’t say anything positive about it,— and 
she has nobody to inherit her money, and, as far as 
anybody knows, she has never made a will ! ” 

“Oh, she has never made a will,” said Mrs. Wells, 
“because my John is in the office, and if Mrs. Cliff 
had ever come there on such business, he would know 
about it.” 

“But she ought to make a will,” said Miss Cushing. 
“That’s the long and short of it. And she ought to 
have a friend who would tell her so. That would be 
no more than a Christian duty which any one of us 
would owe to another, if cases were changed.” 

“I don’t look upon Mrs. Cliff as such a very old 
woman,” said Miss Inchman, “but I agree with you 
that this thing ought to be put before her. Willy 
Croup will never do it, and really, if some one of us 
don’t, I don’t know who will.” 

“There’s Mrs. Perley,” said Mrs. Archibald. 

“Oh, she’d never do ! ” struck in Miss Cushing. 
“Mrs. Perley is too timid. She would throw it off on 
her husband, and if he talks to Mrs. Cliff about a will, 
her money will all go to the church or to some charity. 
I should say that one of us ought to take on herself 
this friendly duty. Of course, it would not do to go 
to her and blurt out that we all thought she would 
not live very long, and that she ought to make her 
will, but conversation could be led to the matter, and 
when Mrs. Cliff got to consider her own case, I haven’t 
a doubt but that she would be glad to have advice 
and help from an old friend.” 

All agreed that this was a very correct view of the 
case, but not one of them volunteered to go and talk 
to Mrs. Cliff on the subject. This was not from timid- 
86 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


ity, nor from an unwillingness to meddle in other 
people’s business, but from a desire on the part of 
each not to injure herself in Mrs. Cliff’s eyes by any 
action which might indicate that she had a personal 
interest in the matter. 

Miss Cushing voiced the opinion of the company 
when she said : “When a person has no heirs, rela- 
tives ought to be considered first, but if there are 
none of these, or if they aren’t suitable, then friends 
should come in. Of course, I mean the oldest and 
best friends of the party without heirs.” 

No remark immediately followed this, for each lady 
was thinking that she, probably more than any one 
else in Plainton, had a claim upon Mrs. Cliff’s atten- 
tion if she were leaving her property to her friends, 
as she certainly ought to do. 

In years gone by Mrs. Cliff had been a very kind 
friend to Miss Cushing,— she had loaned her money, 
and assisted her in various ways,— and since her return 
to Plainton she had put a great deal of work into Miss 
Cushing’s hands. Dress after dress for Willy Croup 
had been made, and material for others was still lying 
in the house ; and Mrs. Cliff herself had ordered so 
much work that at this moment Miss Cushing had 
two girls up -stairs sewing diligently upon it. 

Having experienced all this kindness, Miss Cushing 
felt that if Mrs. Cliff left any of her money to her 
friends, she would certainly remember her, and that 
right handsomely. If anybody spoke to Mrs. Cliff 
upon the subject, she would insist, and she thought 
she had a right to insist, that her name should be 
brought in prominently. 

Mrs. Ferguson had also well-defined opinions upon 
87 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


the subject. She had two daughters who were more 
than half grown, who had learned all that they could be 
taught in Plainton, and she was very anxious to send 
them away to school, where their natural talents could 
be properly cultivated. She felt that she owed a deep 
and solemn duty to these girls, and she had already 
talked to Mrs. Cliff about them. 

The latter had taken a great deal of interest in the 
matter, and although she had not said she would help 
Mrs. Ferguson properly to educate these girls, for she 
had not asked her help, she had taken so much interest 
in the matter that their mother had great hopes. 
And if this widow without any children felt inclined 
to assist the children of others during her life, how 
much more willing would she be likely to be to ap- 
propriate a portion of what she left behind her to such 
an object ! 

Mrs. Wells and Mrs. Archibald had solid claims 
upon Mrs. Cliff. It was known that shortly after the 
death of her husband, when she found it difficult to 
make collections, and was very much in need of money 
for immediate expenses, they had each made loans to 
her. It is true that even before she started for South 
America she had repaid these loans with full legal 
interest. But the two matrons could not forget that 
they had been kind to her, nor did they believe that 
Mrs. Cliff had forgotten what they had done, for the 
presents she had brought them from France were 
generally considered as being more beautiful and 
more valuable than those given to anybody else, 
except the Thorpdykes and the Perleys. This indi- 
cated a very gratifying gratitude, upon which the two 
88 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


ladies, each for herself, had every right to build very 
favorable hopes. 

Miss Inchman and Mrs. Cliff had been school-fellows, 
and when they were both grown young women there 
had been a good deal of doubt which one of them 
William Cliff would marry. He made his choice, and 
Susan Inchman never showed by word or deed that 
she begrudged him to her friend, to whom she had 
always endeavored to show just as much kindly feeling 
as if there had been two William Cliffs, and each of 
the young women had secured one of them. If Mrs. 
Cliff, now a widow with money enough to live well 
upon and keep a carriage, was making out her will, 
and was thinking of her friends in Plainton, it would 
be impossible for her to forget one who was the oldest 
friend of all. 

So it is easy to see why she did not want to go to 
Mrs. Cliff and prejudice her against herself by stating 
that she ought to make a will for the benefit of the 
old friends who had always loved and respected her. 

Miss Cushing now spoke. She knew what each 
member of the little company was thinking about, 
and she felt that it might as well be spoken of. 

“It does seem to me,’ 7 said she, — “and I never would 
have thought of it if it hadn’t been for the talk we 
had,— that we five are the persons that Mrs. Cliff 
would naturally mention in her will, not, perhaps, 
regarding any money she might have to leave — ” 

“I don’t see why ! ” interrupted Mrs. Ferguson. 

“Well, that’s neither here nor there,” continued 
Miss Cushing. “Money is money, and nobody knows 
what people will do with it when they die, and if she 
89 


MRS. CLIFF’S YACHT 


leaves anything to the church or to charity, it’s her 
money ! But I’m sure that Mrs. Cliff has too much hard 
sense to order her executors to sell all the beautiful 
rugs, and table-covers, and glass, and china, and the 
dear knows what besides is in her house at this mo- 
ment ! They wouldn’t bring anything at a sale, and 
she would naturally think of leaving them to her 
friends. Some might get more and some might get 
less, but we five in this room at this present moment 
are the old friends that Mrs. Cliff would naturally 
remember. And if any one of us ever sees fit to speak 
to her on the subject, we’re the people who should be 
mentioned when the proper opportunity comes to 
make such mention.” 

“You’re forgetting Willy Croup,” said Mrs. Wells. 

“No,” answered Miss Cushing, a little sharply, “I 
don’t forget her, but I’ll have nothing to do with her. 
I don’t suppose she’ll be forgotten, but whatever is 
done for her, or whatever is not done for her, is not 
our business. It’s my private opinion, however, that 
she’s had a good deal already ! ” 

“Well,” said Mrs. Ferguson, “I suppose that what 
you say is all right — at least, I’ve no objections to any 
of it ; but whoever’s going to speak to her, it mustn’t 
be me, because she knows I’ve daughters to educate, 
and she’d naturally think that if I spoke I was prin- 
cipally speaking for myself, and that would set her 
against me, which I wouldn’t do for the world. And, 
whatever other people may say, I believe she will have 
money to leave.” 

Miss Cushing hesitated for a moment, and then 
spoke up boldly. 

“It’s my opinion,” said she, “that Miss Inchman is 
90 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


the proper person to speak to Mrs. Cliff on this im- 
portant subject. She’s known her all her life, from 
the time when they were little girls together, and 
when they were both grown she made sacrifices for 
her which none of the rest of us had the chance to 
make. Now, for Miss Inchman to go and open the 
subject in a gradual and friendly way would be the 
right and proper thing, no matter how yon look at it, 
and it’s my opinion that we who are now here should 
ask her to go and speak, not in our names, perhaps, 
but out of good will and kindness to us as well as to 
Mrs. Cliff.” 

Mrs. Wells was a lady who was in the habit of say- 
ing things at the wrong time, and she now remarked : 
“We’ve forgotten the Thorpdykes ! You know, Mrs. 
Cliff-” 

Miss Cushing leaned forward, her face reddening. 
“Bother the Thorpdykes ! ” she exclaimed. “They’re 
no more than acquaintances, and ought not to be 
spoken of at all. And as for Mrs. Perley, if any one’s 
thinking of her, she’s only been here four years, and 
that gives her no claim whatever, considering that 
we’ve been lifelong friends and neighbors of Sarah Cliff. 
And now, in behalf of all of us, I ask you, Miss 
Inchman, will you speak to Mrs. Cliff? ” 

Miss Inchman was rather a small woman, spare in 
figure, and she wore glasses, which seemed to be of a 
peculiar kind, for while they enabled her to see 
through them into surrounding space, they did not 
allow people who looked at her to see through them 
into her eyes. People often remarked that you could 
not tell the color of Miss Inchman’s eyes when she had 
her spectacles on. 


91 


MRS. CLIFF’S YACHT 


Thus it was that, although her eyes were sometimes 
brighter than at other times, and this could be noticed 
through her spectacles, it was difficult to understand 
her expression and to discover whether she was angry 
or amused. 

Now Miss Inchman’s eyes behind her spectacles 
brightened very much as she looked from Miss Cush- 
ing to the other members of the little party who had 
constituted themselves the heirs of Mrs. Cliff. None 
of them could judge from her face what she was likely 
to say, but they all waited to hear what she would 
say. At this moment the door opened, and Mrs. Cliff 
entered the parlor. 


92 


CHAPTER X 


THE INTELLECT OE MISS INCHMAN 

It was true that on that morning Mrs. Cliff had been 
standing in her front yard, looking as her best friends 
would not have liked her to look. There was nothing 
physically the matter with her, but she was dissatis- 
fied and somewhat disturbed in her mind. Mr. Burke 
was so busy nowadays that when he stopped in to see 
her it was only for a few minutes, and Willy Croup 
had developed a great facility in discovering things 
which ought to be attended to in various parts of the 
town, and of going to attend to them, with Andrew 
Marks to drive her. 

Xot only did Mrs. Cliff feel that she was left more 
to herself than she liked, but she had the novel ex- 
perience of not being able to find interesting occupa- 
tion. She was glad to have servants who could perform 
all the household duties, and could have done more if 
they had had a chance. Still, it was unpleasant to 
feel that she herself could do so little to fill up her 
unoccupied moments. So she put on a shawl and 
went into her front yard, simply to walk about and 
get a little of the fresh air. But when she went out 
93 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 

of the door, she stood still, contemplating the front 
fence. 

Here was a fence which had been an eyesore to her 
for two or three years ! She believed she had money 
enough to fence in the whole State, and yet those 
shabby palings and posts must offend her eye every 
time she came out of her door! The flowers were 
nearly all dead now, and she would have had a new 
fence immediately, but Mr. Burke had dissuaded her, 
saying that when the new dining-room was brought 
over from the corner lot, there would have to be a 
fence around the whole premises, and it would be 
better to have it all done at once. 

“There are so many things which I can afford just 
as well as not,” she said to herself, “and which I can- 
not do ! ” And it was the unmistakably doleful ex- 
pression upon her countenance, as she thought this, 
which was the foundation of Miss Shott’s remarks to 
her neighbors on the subject of Mrs. Cliff’s probable 
early demise. 

Miss Shott was passing on the other side of the 
street, and she was walking rapidly, but she could see 
more out of the corner of her eye than most people 
could see when they were looking straight before them 
at the same things. 

Suddenly Mrs. Cliff determined that she must do 
something. She felt blue— she wanted to talk to 
somebody. Feeling thus, she naturally went into the 
house, put on her bonnet and her wrap, and walked 
down to see Miss Cushing. There was not anything 
in particular that she wanted to see her about, but 
there was work going on, and she might talk about it, 
or it might happen that she would be inclined to give 
94 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


some orders. She was always glad to do anything she 
could to help that hard-working and kind-hearted 
neighbor ! 

When Mrs. Cliff entered the parlor of Miss Cushing, 
five women each gave a sudden start. The dress- 
maker was so thrown off her balance that she dropped 
her sewing on the floor, and, rising, went forward to 
shake her visitor by the hand, a thing she was not in 
the habit of doing to anybody, because, as is well 
known to all the world, a person who is sewing for a 
livelihood cannot get up to shake hands with the 
friends and acquaintances who may happen in upon 
her. At this the other ladies rose and shook hands, 
and it might have been supposed that the newcomer 
had just returned from a long absence. Then Miss 
Cushing gave Mrs. Cliff a chair, and they all sat down 
again. 

Mrs. Cliff looked about her with a smile. The sight 
of these old friends cheered her. All her blues were 
beginning to fade, as that color always fades in any 
kind of sunshine. 

“I’m glad to see so many of you together,” she said. 
“It almost seems as if you were having some sort of 
meeting. What is it about— can’t I join in? ” 

At this there was a momentary silence which threat- 
ened to become very embarrassing if it continued a 
few seconds more, and Miss Cushing was on the point 
of telling the greatest lie of her career, trusting that 
the other heirs would stand by her and support her 
in whatever statements she made, feeling as they 
must the absolute necessity of saying something in- 
stantly. But Miss Inchman spoke before any one else 
had a chance to do so. 


95 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


“You’re right, Mrs. Cliff,” said she, “we are con- 
sidering something. We didn’t come here on purpose 
to talk about it, but we happened in together, and so 
we thought we would talk it over. And we all came 
to the conclusion that it was something which ought 
to be mentioned to you, and I was asked to speak to 
you about it.” 

Four simultaneous gasps were now heard in that 
little parlor, and four chills ran down the backs of 
four self-constituted heirs. 

“I must say, Susan,” remarked Mrs. Cliff, with a 
good-humored smile, “if you want me to do anything, 
there’s no need of being so wonderfully formal about 
it ! If any one of you, or all of you together, for that 
matter, have anything to say to me, all you had to do 
was to come and say it.” 

“They didn’t seem to think that way,” said Miss 
Inchman. “They all thought that what was to be 
said would come better from me, because I’d known 
you so long, and we had grown up together.” 

“It must be something out of the common,” said 
Mrs. Cliff. “What in the world can it be? If you 
are to speak, Susan, speak out at once ! Let’s have 
it!” 

“That’s just what I’m going to do,” said Miss Inch- 
man. 

If Mrs. Cliff had looked around at the four heirs, 
who were sitting upright in their chairs, gazing in 
horror at Miss Inchman, she would have been startled, 
and, perhaps, frightened. But she did not see them. 
She was so much interested in what her old friend 
Susan was saying that she gave to her her whole 
attention. 


96 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


But now that their appointed spokeswoman had 
announced her intention of immediately declaring 
the object of the meeting, each one of them felt that 
this was no place for her ! But, notwithstanding this 
feeling, not one of them moved to go. Miss Cushing, 
of course, had no excuse for leaving, for this was her 
own house $ and although the others might have 
pleaded errands, a power stronger than their disposi- 
tion to fly— stronger even than their fears of what 
Mrs. Cliff might say to them when she knew all— kept 
them in their seats. The spell of self-interest was upon 
them and held them fast. Whatever was said and 
whatever was done, they must be there ! At this 
supreme moment they could not leave the room. 
They nerved themselves, they breathed hard, and 
listened ! 

“You see, Sarah,” said Miss Inchman, “we must all 
die ! ” 

“That’s no new discovery,” answered Mrs. Cliff, 
and the remark seemed to her so odd that she looked 
around at the rest of the company to see how they 
took it, and she was thereupon impressed with the 
idea that some of them had not thought of this great 
truth of late, and that its sudden announcement had 
thrown them into a shocked solemnity. 

But the soul of Miss Cushing was more than shocked 
—it was filled with fury ! If there had been in that 
room at that instant a loaded gun pointed toward 
Miss Inchman, Miss Cushing would have pulled the 
trigger. This would have been wicked, she well 
knew, and contrary to her every principle, but never 
before had she been confronted by such treachery ! 

“Well,” continued Miss Inchman, “as we must die, 
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MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


we ought to make ourselves ready for it in every way 
that we can. And we’ve been thinking—” 

At this moment the endurance of Mrs. Ferguson 
gave way. The pace and the strain were too great for 
her. Each of the others had herself to think for, but 
she had not only herself, but two daughters. She 
gave a groan, her head fell back, her eyes closed, and, 
with a considerable thump, she slipped from her chair 
to the floor. Instantly every one screamed and sprang 
toward her. 

“What in the world is the matter with her?” cried 
Mrs. Cliff, as she assisted the others to raise the head 
of the fainting woman and to loosen her dress. 

“Oh, I suppose it’s the thought of her late hus- 
band ! ” promptly replied Miss Inchman, who felt that 
it devolved on her to say something, and that quickly. 

Mrs. Cliff looked up in amazement. 

“And what has Mr. Ferguson to do with anything? ” 
she asked. 

“Oh, it’s the new cemetery I was going to talk to 
you about,” said Miss Inchman. “It has been spoken 
of a good deal since you went away, and we all thought 
that if you’d agree to go into it—” 

“Go into it ! ” cried Mrs. Cliff, in horror. 

“I mean, join with the people who are in favor of 
it,” said Miss Inchman. “I haven’t time to explain 
—she’s coming to now, if you’ll all let her alone. All 
I’ve time to say is that those who had husbands in 
the old graveyard, and might perhaps be inclined to 
move them and put up monuments, had the right to 
be first spoken to— although, of course, it’s a subject 
which everybody doesn’t care to speak about, and as 
for Mrs. Ferguson, it’s no wonder, knowing her as we 
98 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


do, that she went off in this way when she knew what 
I was going to say, although, in fact, I wasn’t in the 
least thinking of Mr. Ferguson ! ” 

The speaker had barely time to finish before the 
unfortunate lady who had fainted opened her eyes, 
looked about her, and asked where she was. And 
now that she had revived, no further reference could 
be made to the unfortunate subject which had caused 
her to swoon. 

“I don’t see,” said Mrs. Cliff, as she stood outside 
with Miss Inchman, a few minutes later, “why Mr. 
Ferguson’s removal— I’m sure it isn’t necessary to 
make it if she doesn’t want to— should trouble Mrs. 
Ferguson any more than the thought of Mr. Cliff’s 
removal troubles me. I’m perfectly willing to do 
what I can for the new cemetery, and nobody need 
think I’m such a nervous, hysterical person that I’m 
in danger of popping over if the subject is mentioned 
to me. So when you all are ready to have another 
meeting, I hope you will let me know ! ” 

When Mrs. Ferguson felt herself well enough to sit 
up and take a glass of water with something stimu- 
lating in it, she was informed of the nature of the 
statements which had been finally made to Mrs. Cliff. 

“You know, of course,” added Miss Cushing, still 
pale from unappeased rage, “that that Susan Inchman 
began as she did just to spite us ! ” 

“It’s just like her ! ” said Mrs. Archibald. “But I 
never could have believed that such a dried codfish of 
a woman could have so much intellect ! ” 


99 


CHAPTER XI 


THE ARRIVAL OF THE NEW DINING-ROOM 

The little meeting at the house of Miss Cushing re- 
sulted in something very different from the anticipa- 
tions of those ladies who had consulted together for 
the purpose of constituting themselves the heirs of 
Mrs. Cliff. 

That good lady, being then very much in want of 
something to do, was so pleased with the idea of a new 
cemetery that she entered into the scheme with great 
earnestness. She was particularly pleased with this 
opportunity of making good use of her money, be- 
cause, having been asked by others to join them in this 
work, she was not obliged to pose as a self-appointed 
public benefactor. 

Mrs. Cliff worked so well in behalf of the new ceme- 
tery, and subscribed so much money toward it, through 
Mr. Perley, that it was not many months before it 
became the successor to the little crowded graveyard 
near the centre of the town, and the remains of Mr. 
Cliff were removed to a handsome lot and overshad- 
owed by a suitable monument. 

Mrs. Ferguson, however, in speaking with Mrs. Cliff 
100 


MRS. CLIFF’S YACHT 


upon the subject, was happy to have an opportunity of 
assuring her that she thought it much better to devote 
her slender means to the education of her daughters 
than to the removal of her late husband to a more 
eligible resting-place. 

“I’m sure he’s done very well as he is for all these 
years,” she said, “and if he could have a voice in the 
matter, I’m quite sure that he would prefer his 
daughters’ education to his own removal.” 

Mrs. Cliff did not wish to make any offer which 
might hurt Mrs. Ferguson’s very sensitive feelings, 
but she said that she had no doubt that arrangements 
could be made by which Mr. Ferguson’s transfer could 
be effected without interfering with any plans which 
might have been made for the benefit of his daughters $ 
but although this remark did not satisfy Mrs. Fergu- 
son, she was glad of even this slight opportunity of 
bringing the subject of her daughters’ education be- 
fore the consideration of her friend. 

As to the other would-be heirs, they did not imme- 
diately turn upon Miss Inchman and rend her, in 
revenge for the way in which she had tricked and 
frightened them, for there was no knowing what such 
a woman would do if she were exasperated, and not 
for the world would they have Mrs. Cliff find out the 
real subject of their discussion on that unlucky morn- 
ing when she made herself decidedly one too many in 
Miss Cushing’s parlor. 

Consequently, all attempts at concerted action were 
dropped, and each for herself determined that Mrs. 
Cliff should know that she was a true friend, and to 
trust to the good lady’s well-known gratitude and 
friendly feeling when the time should come for her to 
101 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


apportion her worldly goods among the dear ones she 
would leave behind her. 

There were certain articles in Mrs. Cliffs house for 
which each of her friends had a decided admiration, 
and remarks were often made which it was believed 
would render it impossible for Mrs. Cliff to make a 
mistake when she should be planning her will, and 
asking herself to whom she should give this, and to 
whom that. 

It was about a week after the events in Miss Cash- 
ing’s parlor that something occurred which sent a 
thrill through the souls of a good many people in 
Plainton, affecting them more or less, according to 
their degree of sensibility. 

Willy Croup, who had been driven about the town 
attending to various matters of business and pleasure, 
was informed by Andrew Marks, as she alighted about 
four o’clock in the afternoon at the house of an ac- 
quaintance, that he hoped she would not stop very 
long, because he had some business of his own to attend 
to that afternoon, and he wanted to get the horse 
cared for and the cow milked as early as possible, so 
that he might lock up the barn and go away. To this 
Willy answered that he need not wait for her, for she 
could easily walk home when she had finished her visit. 

But when she left the house, after a protracted call, 
she did not walk very far, for it so happened that Mr. 
Burke, who had found leisure that afternoon to take 
a drive in his barouche, came up behind her, and, very 
naturally, stopped and offered to take her home. 
Willy, quite as naturally, accepted the polite proposi- 
tion, and seated herself in the barouche by the side of 
the fur-trimmed overcoat and the high silk hat. 

102 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


Thus it was that the people of the town who were 
in the main street that afternoon, or who happened 
to be at doors or windows, that the very birds of the 
air, hopping about on trees or housetops, that the 
horses, dogs, and cats, that even the insects whose 
constitutions were strong enough to enable them to 
buzz about in the autumn sunlight, beheld the star- 
tling sight of Willy Croup and the fine gentleman at 
the hotel riding together, side by side, in broad day- 
light, through the most public street of the town ! 

Once before these two had been seen together out 
of doors, but then they had been walking, and almost 
any two people who knew each other, and who might 
be walking in the same direction, could, without im- 
propriety, walk side by side, and converse as they 
went. But now the incident was very different. 

It created a great impression, not all to the advan- 
tage of Mr. Burke, for, after the matter had been 
very thoroughly discussed, it was generally conceded 
that he must be no better than a fortune-hunter. 
Otherwise, why should he be paying attention to 
Willy Croup, who, as everybody knew, was not a 
day under forty-five years old, and therefore at least 
ten years older than the gentleman at the hotel. 

In regard to the fortune which he was hunting 
there was no difference of opinion. Whatever Mrs. 
Cliff’s fortune might be, this Mr. Burke wanted it. 
Of course, he would not endeavor to gain his object 
by marrying the widow, for she was entirely too old 
for him j but if he married Willy, her only relative, 
that would not be quite so bad as to age, and there 
could be no doubt that these two would ultimately 
come into Mrs. Cliff’s fortune, which was probably 
103 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


more than had been generally supposed. She had 
always been very close -mouthed about her affairs, 
and there were some who said that even in her early 
days of widowhood she might have been more stingy 
than she was poor. She must have considerable 
property, or Mr. Burke would not be so anxious to 
get it. 

Thus it happened that the eventful drive in the 
barouche had a very different effect upon the repu- 
tations of the three persons concerned. Mr. Burke 
was lowered from his position as a man of means en- 
joying his fortune, for even his building operations 
were probably undertaken for the purpose of settling 
himself in Mrs. Cliff’s neighborhood, and so being able 
to marry Willy as soon as possible. 

Willy Croup, although everybody spoke of her con- 
duct as absolutely ridiculous and even shameful, rose 
in public estimation simply from the belief that she 
was about to marry a man who, whatever else he 
might be, was of imposing appearance and was likely 
to be rich. 

As to Mrs. Cliff, there could be no doubt that the 
general respect for her was on the increase. If she 
were rich enough to attract Mr. Burke to the town, 
she was probably rich enough to do a good many 
other things, and, after all, it might be that that new 
house at the corner was being built with her money. 

Miss Shott was very industrious and energetic in 
expressing her opinion of Mr. Burke. “ There’s a 

chambermaid at the hotel,” she said, “who’s told me 
a lot of things about him, and it’s very plain to my 
mind that he isn’t the gentleman that he makes him- 
self out to be ! His handkerchiefs and his hair-brush 
104 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


aren’t the kind that go with fur overcoats and high 
hats, and she has often seen him stop in the hall down- 
stairs and black his own boots ! Everybody knows he 
was a sailor, but as to his ever having commanded a 
vessel, I don’t believe a word of it ! But Willy Croup 
and that man needn’t count on their schemes coming 
out all right, for Sarah Cliff isn’t any older than I am, 
and she’s just as likely to outlive them as she is to die 
before them ! ” 

The fact that nobody had ever said that Burke had 
commanded a vessel, and that Miss Shott had started 
the belief that Mrs. Cliff was in a rapid decline, en- 
tirely escaped the attention of her hearers, so inter- 
ested were they in the subject of the unworthiness of 
the fine gentleman at the hotel. 

Winter had not yet really set in when George 
Burke, who had perceived no reason to imagine that 
he had made a drop in public estimation, felt himself 
stirred by emotions of triumphant joy. The new 
building on the corner lot was on the point of com- 
pletion ! 

Workmen and master workmen, mechanics and 
laborers, had swarmed in, over, and about the new 
edifice in such numbers that sometimes they impeded 
each other. Close upon the heels of the masons came 
the carpenters, and following them the plumbers 
and the plasterers, while the painters impatiently 
restrained themselves in order to give their prede- 
cessors time to get out of their way. 

The walls and ceilings were covered with the plaster 
which would dry the quickest, and the paper-hangers 
entered the rooms almost before the plasterers could 
take away their trowels and their lime-begrimed hats 
105 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


and coats. Cleaners with their brooms and pails 
jostled the mechanics, as the latter left the various 
rooms. And everywhere strode Mr. Burke. He had 
made up his mind that the building must be ready 
to move into the instant it arrived at its final 
destination. 

It was a very different building from what Mrs. 
Cliff had proposed to herself when she decided to add 
a dining-room to her old house. It was so different, 
indeed, that, after having gone two or three times to 
look upon the piles of lumber and stone, and the 
crowds of men digging, and hammering, and sawing 
on the corner lot, she had decided to leave the whole 
matter in the hands of Mr. Burke, the architect, and 
the contractor. And when Willy Croup endeavored 
to explain to her what was going on, she always 
stopped her, saying that she would wait until it was 
done, and then she would understand it. 

Mr. Burke, too, had urged her, especially as the 
building drew near to completion, not to bother her- 
self in the least about it, but to give him the pleasure 
of presenting it to her entirely finished and ready for 
occupancy. So even the painting and paper-hanging 
had been left to a professional decorator, and Mrs. 
Cliff assured Burke that she was perfectly willing to 
wait for the new dining-room until it was ready for 
her. 

This dining-room, large and architecturally hand- 
some, was planned, as has been said, so that one of its 
doors should fit exactly against the side hall door of 
the little house, but the other door of the dining-room 
opened into a wide and elegant hall, at one end of 
which was a portico and spacious front steps. On the 
106 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


other side of this hall was a handsome drawing-room, 
and behind the drawing-room, and opening into it, an 
alcove library with a broad piazza at one side of it. 
Back of the dining-room was a spacious kitchen, with 
pantries, closets, scullery, and all necessary adjuncts. 

In the second and third stories of the edifice were 
large and beautiful bedrooms, small and neat bed- 
rooms, bath-rooms, servants’ rooms, trunk-rooms, and 
every kind of room that modern civilization demands. 

Now that the building was finished, Mr. Burke al- 
most regretted that he had not constructed it upon 
the top of a hill, in order that he might have laid his 
smooth and slippery timbers from the eminence to 
the side of Mrs. Cliff’s house, so that, when all should 
be ready, he could have knocked away the blocks 
which held the building in place, and so have launched 
it as if it had been a ship, and everybody could have 
beheld it sliding gracefully and rapidly from its stocks 
into its appointed position. But as this would prob- 
ably have resulted in razing Mrs. Cliff’s old house to 
the level of the ground, he did not long regret that 
he had not been able to afford himself and the towns- 
people the pleasure of this grand spectacle. 

The night before the day on which the new building 
was to be moved, the lot next to Mrs. Cliff’s house was 
covered by masons, laborers, and wagons hauling 
stones, and by breakfast-time the next morning the 
new cellar was completed. 

Almost immediately the great timbers, which, 
polished and greased, had been waiting for several 
days, were put in their places, and the great steam- 
engines and windlasses, which had been ready as long 
a time, were set in motion. And, as the house began 
107 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


to move upon its course, it almost missed a parting 
dab from the brush of a painter who was at work 
upon some final trimming. 

That afternoon, as Mrs. Cliff happened to be in her 
dining-room, she remarked to Willy that it was get- 
ting dark very early, but she would not pull up the 
blind of the side window, because she would then look 
out on the new cellar, and she had promised Mr. 
Burke not to look at anything until he had told her 
to do so. Willy, who had looked out of the side door 
at least fifty times that day, knew that the early dark- 
ness was caused by the shadows thrown by a large 
building slowly approaching from the west. 

When Mrs. Cliff came down-stairs the next morning, 
she was met by Willy, very much excited, who told 
her that Mr. Burke wished to see her. 

“ Where is he?” said she. 

“ At the dining-room door,” answered Willy, and as 
Mrs. Cliff turned toward the little room in which she 
had been accustomed to take her meals, Willy seized 
her hand and led her into the side hall. There, in the 
open doorway, stood Mr. Burke, his high silk hat in 
one hand, and the other outstretched toward her. 

“Welcome to your new dining-room, madam!” 
said he, as he took her hand and led her into the great 
room, which seemed to her, as she gazed in amazement 
about her, like a beautiful public hall. 

We will not follow Mrs. Cliff, Willy, and the whole 
body of domestic servants, as they pass through the 
halls and rooms of that grand addition to Mrs. Cliff’s 
little house. 

“Carpets and furniture is all that you want, 
madam,” said Burke, “and then you’re at home ! ” 
108 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


When Mrs. Cliff had been up -stairs and down-stairs, 
and into every chamber, and when she had looked out 
of the window, and had beheld hundreds of men at 
work upon the grounds and putting up fences, and 
when Mr. Burke had explained to her that the people 
at the back of the lot were beginning to erect a stable 
and carriage-house,— for no dining-room such as she 
had was complete, he assured her, without handsome 
quarters for horses and carriages,— she left him and 
went down-stairs by herself. 

As she stood by the great front door and looked up 
at the wide staircase, and into the lofty rooms upon 
each side, there came to her, rising above all senti- 
ments of amazement, delight, and pride in her new 
possessions, a feeling of animated and inspiring en- 
couragement. The mists of doubt and uncertainty, 
which had hung over her, began to clear away. This 
noble edifice must have cost grandly ! And, for the 
first time, she began to feel that she might yet be 
equal to her fortune. 


109 


CHAPTER XII 


THE THORPDYKE SISTERS 

The new and grand addition to Mrs. Cliff’s house, 
which had been so planned that the little house to 
which it had been joined appeared to be an architec- 
turally harmonious adjunct to it, caused a far greater 
sensation in Plainton than the erection of any of the 
public buildings therein. 

Its journey from the corner lot was watched by hun- 
dreds of spectators, and now Mrs. Cliff, Willy, and 
Mr. Burke spent day and evening in exhibiting and 
explaining this remarkable piece of building enter- 
prise. 

Mr. Burke was very jolly. He took no credit to 
himself for the planning of the house, which, as he 
truthfully said, had been the work of an architect, 
who had suggested what was proper, and had been 
allowed to do it. But he did feel himself privileged 
to declare that if every crew building a house were 
commanded by a person of marine experience, things 
would move along a good deal more briskly than they 
generally did, and to this assertion he found no one 
to object. 

Mrs. Cliff was very happy in wandering over her 
new rooms, and in assuring herself that no matter 
110 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


how grand they might he when they were all fur- 
nished and fitted up, nothing had been done which 
would interfere with the dear old home which she 
had loved so long. It is true that one of the win- 
dows of the little dining-room was blocked up, but 
that window was not needed. 

Mr. Burke was not willing to give Mrs. Cliff more 
than a day or two for the contemplation of her new 
possessions, and urged upon her that while the chim- 
neys were being erected and the heating apparatus 
was being put into the house, she ought to attend to 
the selection and purchase of the carpets, furniture, 
pictures, and everything which was needed in the 
new establishment. 

Mrs. Cliff thought this good advice, and proposed a 
trip to Boston. But Burke did not think that would 
do at all, and declared that New York was the only 
place where she could get everything she needed. 
Willy, who was to accompany Mrs. Cliff, had been 
to Boston, but had never visited New York, and she 
strongly urged the claims of the latter city, and an 
immediate journey to the metropolis was agreed 
upon. 

But when Mrs. Cliff considered the magnitude and 
difficulties of the work she was about to undertake, 
she wished for the counsel and advice of some one 
besides Willy. This good little woman was energetic 
and enthusiastic, but she had had no experience in 
regard to the furnishing of a really good house. 

When, in her mind, she was running over the 
names of those who might be able and willing to go 
with her and assist her, Mrs. Cliff suddenly thought of 
the Thorpdyke ladies, and there her mental category 
111 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


stopped, as she announced to Willy that she was 
going to ask these ladies to go with them to New 
York. 

Willy thought well of this plan, but she had her 
doubts about Miss Barbara, who was so quiet, domestic, 
and unused to travel that she might be unwilling to 
cast herself into the din and whirl of the metropolis. 
But when she and Mrs. Cliff went to make a call upon 
the Thorpdykes, and put the question before them, 
she was very much surprised to find that, although 
the elder sister, after carefully considering the subject, 
announced her willingness to oblige Mrs. Cliff, Miss 
Barbara agreed to the plan with an alacrity which 
her visitors had never known her to exhibit before. 

As soon as the necessary preparations could be 
made, a party of five left Plainton for New York, and 
a very well-assorted party it was ! Mr. Burke, who 
guided and commanded the expedition, supplied the 
impelling energy. Mrs. Cliff had her check-book with 
her. Willy was ready with any amount of enthusiasm. 
And the past life of Miss Eleanor Thorpdyke and her 
sister Barbara had made them most excellent judges 
of what was appropriate for the worthy furnishing of 
a stately mansion. 

Their youth and middle life had been spent near 
Boston, in a fine old house which had been the home 
of their ancestors, and where they had been familiar 
with wealth, distinguished society, and noble hospi- 
tality. But when they had been left the sole repre- 
sentatives of their family, and when misfortune after 
misfortune had come down upon them and swept 
away their estates and nearly all of their income, they 
112 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


had retired to the little town of Plainton, where they 
happened to own a house. 

There, with nothing saved from the wreck of their 
prosperity but their family traditions, and some of 
the old furniture and pictures, they had settled down 
to spend in quiet the rest of their lives. 

For two weeks our party remained in New York, 
living at one of the best hotels, but spending nearly 
all their time in shops and streets. 

Mrs. Cliff was rapidly becoming a different woman 
from the old Mrs. Cliff of Plainton. At the time she 
stepped inside of the addition to her house the change 
had begun, and now it showed itself more and more 
each day. She had seen more beautiful things in 
Paris, but there she looked upon them with but little 
thought of purchasing. In New York whatever she 
saw and desired she made her own. 

The difference between a mere possessor of wealth 
and one who uses it became very apparent to her. 
Not until now had she really known what it was to be 
a rich woman. Not only did this consciousness of 
power swell her veins with a proud delight, but it 
warmed and invigorated all her better impulses. She 
had always been of a generous disposition, but now 
she felt an intense good will toward her fellow-beings, 
and wished that other people could be as happy as 
she was. 

She thought of Mrs. Ferguson, and remembered what 
she had said about her daughters. To be sure, Mrs. 
Ferguson was always trying to get people to do things 
for her, and Mrs. Cliff did not fancy that class of 
women, but now her wealth-warmed soul inclined her 
113 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


to overlook this prejudice, and she said to herself 
that when she got home she would make arrangements 
for those two girls to go to a good school ; and, more 
than that, she would see to it that Mr. Ferguson was 
moved. It seemed to her just then that it would be 
a very cheerful thing to make other people happy. 

The taste and artistic judgment of the elder Miss 
Thorpdyke, which had been dormant for years, 
simply because there was nothing upon which they 
could exercise themselves, now awoke in their old 
vigor, and with Mrs. Cliffs good sense, reinforced by 
her experience gained in wandering among the treas- 
ures of Paris, the results of the shopping expedition 
were eminently satisfactory. And, with the plan of 
the new building, which Mr. Burke carried always 
with him, everything which was likely to be needed 
in each room, hall, or stairway was selected and pur- 
chased, and, as fast as this was done, the things were 
shipped to Plainton, where people were ready to put 
them where they belonged. 

Willy Croup was not always of service in the pur- 
chasing expeditions, for she liked everything that she 
saw, and no sooner was an article produced than she 
went into ecstasies over it. But as she had an intense 
desire to see everything which New York contained, 
she did not at all confine herself to the shops and 
bazaars. She went wherever she could, and saw all 
that it was possible for her to see ; but in the midst 
of the sights and attractions of the metropolis, she was 
still Willy Croup. 

One afternoon, as she and Miss Barbara were passing 
along one of the side streets, on their return from an 
attempt to see how the poorer people lived, Willy 
114 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


stopped in front of a blacksmith’s shop, where a man 
was shoeing a horse. 

“There!” she exclaimed, her eyes sparkling with 
delight, “that’s the first thing I’ve seen that reminds 
me of home ! ” 

“It is nice, isn’t it ! ” said gentle Miss Barbara. 


115 


CHAPTEK XIII 


MONEY-HUNGER 

During the latter part of their sojourn in the city, 
Willy went about a good deal with Miss Barbara, 
because she thought this quiet, soft-spoken lady was 
not happy, and did not take the interest in handsome 
and costly articles which was shown by her sister. 
She had been afraid that this noisy, bustling place 
would be too much for Miss Barbara, and now she 
was sure she had been right. 

The younger Miss Thorpedyke was unhappy, and 
with reason. For some months a little house in 
Boston which had been their principal source of in- 
come had not been rented. It needed repairs, and 
there was no money with which to repair it. The 
agent had written that some one might appear who 
would be willing to take it as it stood, but that this 
was doubtful, and the heart of Miss Barbara sank very 
low. She was the business woman of the family. She 
it was who had always balanced the income and the 
expenditures. This adjustment had now become very 
difficult indeed, and was only accomplished by adding 
a little debt to the weight on the income scale. 

She had said nothing to her sister about this sad 
116 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


change in their affairs, because she hoped against hope 
that soon they might have a tenant, and she knew 
that her sister Eleanor was a woman of such strict and 
punctilious honor that she would insist upon living 
upon plain bread, if their supply of ready money was 
insufficient to buy anything else. To see this sister 
insufficiently nourished was something which Miss 
Barbara could not endure, and so, sorely against her 
disposition and her conscience, she made some little 
debts } and these grew and grew, until at last they 
weighed her down until she felt as if she must always 
look upon the earth, and could never raise her head 
to the sky. And she was so plump, and so white, and 
gentle, and quiet, and peaceful-looking that no one 
thought she had a care in the world until Willy 
Croup began to suspect, in New York, that something 
was the matter with her, but did not in the least at- 
tribute her friend’s low spirits to the proper cause. 

When Miss Barbara had favored so willingly and 
promptly the invitation of Mrs. Cliff, she had done so 
because she saw in the New York visit a temporary 
abolition of expense, and a consequent opportunity to 
lay up a little money by which she might be able to 
satisfy for a time one of her creditors, who was begin- 
ning to suspect that she was not able to pay his bill, 
and was therefore pressing her very hard. Even while 
she had been in New York, this many-times rendered 
bill had been forwarded to her, with an urgent request 
that it be settled. 

It was not strange, therefore, that a tear should 
sometimes come to the eye of Miss Barbara when she 
stood by the side of her sister and Mrs. Cliff, and lis- 
tened to them discussing the merits of some rich rugs 
117 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


or pieces of furniture, and when she reflected that the 
difference in price between two articles, one appar- 
ently as desirable as the other, which was discussed 
so lightly by Mrs. Cliff and Eleanor, would pay that 
bill which was eating into her soul, and settle, more- 
over, every other claim against herself and her sister. 
But the tears were always wiped away very quickly, 
and neither Mrs. Cliff nor the elder Miss Thorpdyke 
ever noticed them. 

But although Willy Croup was not at all a woman 
of acute perceptions, she began to think that perhaps 
jit was something more than the bustle and noise of 
New York which was troubling Miss Barbara. And 
once, when she saw her gazing with an earnest, eager 
glare— and whoever would have thought of any sort 
of a glare in Miss Barbara’s eyes?— upon some bank- 
notes which Mrs. Cliff was paying out for a carved 
cabinet for which it was a little doubtful if a suitable 
place could be found, but which was bought because 
Miss Eleanor thought it would give an air of dis- 
tinction in whatever room it might be placed, Willy 
began to suspect the meaning of that unusual exhi- 
bition of emotion. 

“She’s money-hungry,” she said to herself, “that’s 
what’s the matter with her ! ” Willy had seen the 
signs of such hunger before, and she understood what 
they meant. 

That night Willy lay in her bed, having the very 
unusual experience of thinking so much that she could 
not sleep. Her room adjoined Miss Barbara’s, and the 
door between them was partly open, for the latter 
lady was timid. Perhaps it was because this door was 
not closed that Willy was so wakeful and thoughtful, 
118 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


for there was a bright light in the other room, and 
she could not imagine why Miss Barbara should be 
sitting up so late. It was a proceeding entirely at 
variance with her usual habits. She was in some sort 
of trouble, it was easy to see that, but it would be 
a great deal better to go to sleep and try to forget it. 

So, after a time, Willy rose, and, softly stepping over 
the thick carpet, looked into the other room. There 
was Miss Barbara, in her day-dress, sitting at a table, 
her arms upon the table, her head upon her arms, 
fast asleep. Upon her pale face there were a great 
many tear-marks, and Willy knew that she must have 
cried herself to sleep. A paper was spread out near 
her. 

Willy was sure that it would be a very mean and 
contemptible thing for her to go and look at that 
paper, and so, perhaps, find out what was troubling 
Miss Barbara, but, without the slightest hesitation, she 
did it. Her bare feet made no sound upon the carpet, 
and as she had very good eyes, it was not necessary 
for her to approach close to the sleeper. 

It was a bill from William Bullock, a grocer and 
provision-dealer of Plainton. It contained but one 
item, “To bill rendered,” and at the bottom was a 
statement in Mr. Bullock’s own handwriting to the 
effect that if the bill was not immediately paid he 
would be obliged to put it into the hands of a 
collector. 

Willy turned and slipped back into her room. 
Then, after sitting down upon her bed and getting 
up again, she stepped boldly to the door and knocked 
upon it. Instantly she heard Miss Barbara start and 
push back her chair. 


119 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


“What are you doing up so late?” cried Willy, 
cheerfully. “Don’t you feel well?” 

“Oh, yes,” replied the other, “I accidentally fell 
asleep while reading, but I will go to bed instantly.” 

The mind of Willy Croup was a very small one, and 
had room in it for but one idea at a time. For a good 
while she lay putting ideas into this mind, and then 
taking them out again. Having given place to the 
conviction that the Thorpdykes were in a very bad 
way, indeed, — for if that bill should be collected, they 
would not have much left but themselves, and Mr. 
Bullock was a man who did collect when he said he 
would,— she was obliged to remove this conviction, 
which made her cry, in order to consider plans of 
relief ; and while she was considering these plans, one 
at a time, she dropped asleep. 

The first thing she thought of, when she opened her 
eyes in the morning, was poor Miss Barbara in the 
next room, and that dreadful bill ; and then, like a 
flash of lightning, she thought of a good thing to do 
for the Thorpdykes. The project which now laid 
itself out, detail after detail, before her seemed so 
simple, so sensible, so absolutely wise and desirable in 
every way, that she got up, dressed herself with great 
rapidity, and went in to see Mrs. Cliff. 

That lady was still asleep, but Willy awakened her, 
and sat on the side of the bed. “Do you know what 
I think? ” said Willy. 

“How in the world should I ! ” said Mrs. Cliff. “Is 
it after breakfast-time ? ” 

“Ho,” said Willy, “but it’s this ! What are you 
going to do in that big house, with all the bedrooms, 
parlor, library, and so forth? You say that you are 
120 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


going to have one room, and that I’m to have an- 
other, and that we’ll go into the old house to feel at 
home whenever we want to. But I believe we’ll be 
like a couple of flies in a barrel. You’re going to 
furnish your new house with everything but people. 
You ought to have more people. You ought to have 
a family. That house will look funny without 
people. You can’t ask Mr. Burke, because it would 
be too queer to have him come and live with us, and, 
besides, he’ll want a house of his own. Why don’t 
you ask the Thorpdykes to come and live with us? 
Their roof is dreadfully out of repairs. I know to 
my certain knowledge that they have to put tin wash- 
basins on every bed in the second story when it rains, 
on account of the holes in the shingles ! If they had 
money to mend those holes, they’d mend them, but as 
they don’t mend them, of course they haven’t the 
money. It strikes me that they aren’t as well 
off as they used to be, and they’ll have a hard time 
gettin’ through this winter. Now, there isn’t any 
piece of furniture that you can put in your house that 
will give it ‘such an air of distinction,’ as Miss 
Eleanor calls it, as she herself will give it, if you put 
her there. If you could persuade Miss Eleanor to 
come and sit in your parlor when you are having 
company to see you, it would set you up in Plainton 
a good deal higher than any money can set you up.” 

“They would never agree to anything of the kind,” 
said Mrs. Cliff, “and you know it, Willy ! ” 

“I don’t believe it,” said Willy. “I believe they’d 
come ! Just see how willing they were to come here 
with you ! I tell you, Sarah, that the older and 
older those Thorpdyke ladies get, the more timid 
121 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


they get, and the more unwilling to live by them- 
selves ! If you make Miss Eleanor understand that it 
would be the greatest comfort and happiness to both 
of us if she would come and spend the winter with 
you, and so help you to get used to your great big 
new house, and, more than that, if they’d bring with 
them some of their candlesticks and pictures on ivory, 
and that sort of thing, which everybody knows can’t 
be bought for money, it would be the great accommo- 
dation to you, and make your house look something 
like what you would like to have it. I believe that 
old-family lady would come and stay with you this 
winter, and think all the time that she was giving you 
something that you ought to have, and which nobody 
in Plainton could give you but herself. And as to 
Miss Barbara, she’d come along as quick as lightning ! ” 

“Willy,” said Mrs. Cliff, very earnestly, “have you 
any good reason to believe that the Thorpdykes are 
in money trouble ? ” 

“Yes, I have,” said Willy, “I’m positive of it, and, 
what’s more, it’s only Miss Barbara who knows it ! ” 

Mrs. Cliff sat for some minutes without answering, 
and then she said, “Willy, you do sometimes get into 
your head an idea that absolutely sparkles ! ” 


122 


CHAPTER XIV 

WILLY CROUP AS A PHILANTHROPIC DIPLOMATIST 

Mrs. Cliff was late to breakfast that day, and the 
reason was that, thinking so much about what Willy 
had said to her, she had been very slow in dressing. 
As soon as she had a chance, Mrs. Cliff took Willy 
aside and told her that she had determined to adopt 
her advice about the Thorpdykes. 

“The more I think of the plan,” she said, “the 
better I like it ! But we must be very, very careful 
about what we do. If Miss Eleanor suspects that I 
invite them to come to my house because I think 
they are poor, she will turn into solid stone, and we 
will find we cannot move her an inch. But I think I 
can manage it ! When we go home, I will tell them 
how pleasant we found it for us all to be together, and 
speak of the loneliness of my new big house. If I can 
get Miss Eleanor to believe that she is doing me a 
favor, she may be willing to come. But on no account, 
Willy, do you say a word to either of them about this 
plan. If you do, yoti will spoil everything, for that’s 
your way, Willy, and you know it ! ” 

Willy promised faithfully that she would not inter- 
fere in the least j but although she was perfectly satis- 
123 


MRS. CLIFF’S YACHT 


fied with this arrangement, she was not happy. How 
could she he happy, knowing what she did about Miss 
Barbara? That poor lady was looking sadder than 
ever, and Willy was very much afraid that she had 
had another letter from that horrid Mr. Bullock, with 
whom, she was delighted to think, Mrs. Cliff had 
never dealt. 

It would be some days yet before they would go 
home and make the new arrangement, and then there 
would be the bill and the collector, and all that horrid 
business, and if Miss Eleanor found out the condition 
of affairs,— and if the bill was not paid, she must find 
out,— she would never come to them. She would 
probably stay at home and live on bread ! 

How, it so happened that Willy had in her own 
possession more than enough money to pay that 
wretched Bullock bill. Mrs. Cliff made her no 
regular allowance, but she had given her all the 
money that she might reasonably expect to spend in 
Hew York, and Willy had spent but very little of it, 
for she found it the most difficult thing in the world 
to select what it was she wanted out of all the desirable 
things she saw. 

It would rejoice her heart to transfer this money to 
Miss Barbara, but how in the world could she do it? 
She first thought that she might offer to buy something 
that was in the Thorpdyke house, but she knew this 
idea was absurd. Then she thought of mentioning, 
in an offhand way, that she would like to put some 
money out at interest, and thus, perhaps, induce Miss 
Barbara to propose a business transaction. But this 
would not do. Even Miss Barbara would suspect 
some concealed motive. Idea after idea came to her, 
124 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


but she could think of no satisfactory plan of getting 
that money into Miss Barbara’s possession. 

She did not go out with the party that morning, 
but sat in her room trying in vain to solve this prob- 
lem. At last she gave it up, and determined to do 
what she wanted to do without any plan whatever. 

She went into Miss Barbara’s room, and placed upon 
the table, in the very spot where the bill had been 
lying, some bank-notes, considerably more than suffi- 
cient to pay the amount of the bill, which amount 
she well remembered. It would not do to leave just 
money enough, for that would excite suspicion. And 
so, placing Miss Barbara’s hair -brush upon the bank- 
notes, so that she would be sure not to overlook them, 
for she would not think of going down to luncheon 
without brushing her hair, Willy retired to her own 
room, nearly closing the door, leaving only a little 
crack through which she might see if any servant 
entered the room before Miss Barbara came back. 

Then Willy set herself industriously to work hem- 
ming a pocket-handkerchief. She could not do this 
very well, because she was not at all proficient in fine 
sewing, but she worked with great energy, waiting 
and listening for Miss Barbara’s entrance. 

At last, after a long time, Willy heard the outer 
door of the other room open, and glancing through 
the crack, she saw Miss Barbara enter. Then she 
twisted herself around toward the window, and began 
to sew savagely, with a skill much better adapted to 
the binding of carpets than to any sort of work upon 
cambric handkerchiefs. 

In a few minutes she heard a little exclamation in 
the next room, and then her door was opened sud- 
125 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


denly, without the customary knock, and Miss Barbara 
marched in. Her face was flushed. 

“Willy Croup,” said she, “what is the meaning of 
that money on my table ? ” 

“Money?” said Willy, turning toward her with as 
innocent an expression as her burning cheeks and 
rapidly winking eyes would permit. “What do you 
mean by— money?” 

Miss Barbara stood silent for some moments, while 
Willy vainly endeavored to thread the point of her 
needle. 

“Willy,” said Miss Barbara, “did you come into 
my room last night, and look at the bill which was 
on my table ? ” 

How Willy dropped her needle, thread, and hand- 
kerchief, and stood up. 

“Yes, I did ! ” said she. 

Miss Barbara was now quite pale. 

“And you read the note which Mr. Bullock had put 
at the bottom of it? ” 

“Yes, I read it ! ” said Willy. 

“And don’t you know,” said the other, “that to do 
such a thing was most—” 

“ Yes, I do ! ” interrupted Willy. “I knew it then, 
and I know it now, but I don’t care any more now 
than I did then ! I put it there because I wanted to ! 
And if you’ll take it, Miss Barbara, and pay it back 
to me any time when you feel like it— and you can 
pay me interest at ten per cent., if you want to, and 
that will make it all right, you know. And oh, Miss 
Barbara ! I know all about that sort of bill, because 
they used to come when my father was alive. If you’d 
only take it, you don’t know how happy I would be !” 

126 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


At this she began to cry, and then Miss Barbara 
burst into tears, and the two sat down beside each 
other on a lounge and cried earnestly, hand in hand, 
for nearly ten minutes. 

“I’m so glad you’ll take it ! ” said Willy, when Miss 
Barbara went into her room, “and you may be just as 
sure as you’re sure of anything that nobody but our 
two selves will ever know anything about it ! ” 

Immediately after luncheon Miss Barbara went by 
herself to the post-office, and when she came back her 
sister said to her that Hew York must just be begin- 
ning to agree with her. 

“It is astonishing,” said Miss Eleanor, “how long it 
takes some people to get used to a change, but it often 
happens that if one stays long enough in the new 
place, great benefit will be experienced, whereas, if 
the stay is short, there may be no good result what- 
ever ! ” 

That afternoon Mrs. Cliff actually laughed at Miss 
Barbara— a thing she had never done before. They 
were in a large jewelry store, where they were looking 
at clocks, and Miss Barbara, who had evinced a sudden 
interest in the beautiful things about her, called Mrs. 
Cliff’s attention to a lovely necklace of pearls. 

“If I were you,” said Miss Barbara, “I would buy 
something like that ! I should not want to wear it, 
perhaps, but it would be so delightful to sit and look 
at it ! ” 

The idea of Miss Barbara thinking of buying neck- 
laces of pearls ! Ho wonder Mrs. Cliff laughed. 

When the party returned to Plainton, Mrs. Cliff 
was amazed to find her new house almost completely 
furnished $ and no time was lost in proposing the 
127 


MRS. CLIFF’S YACHT 


Thorpdyke project, for Mrs. Cliff felt that it would 
be wise to make the proposition while the sense of 
companionship was still fresh upon them all. 

Miss Thorpdyke was very much surprised when 
the plan was proposed to her, but it produced a pleas- 
ant effect upon her. She had much enjoyed the com- 
pany she had been in. She had always liked society, 
and lately had had very little of it, for no matter 
how good and lovable sisters may be, they are some- 
times a little tiresome when they are sole companions. 

As to Barbara, she trembled as she thought of Mrs. 
Cliff’s offer— trembled with joy, which she could not 
repress, and trembled with fear that her sister might 
not accept it. But it was of no use for her to say any- 
thing, and she said nothing. Eleanor always decided 
such questions as these. 

After a day’s consideration, Miss Thorpdyke came 
to a conclusion, and she sent Miss Barbara with a mes- 
sage to Mrs. Cliff to the effect that as the winters were 
always lonely, and as it would be very pleasant for 
them all to be together, she would, if Mrs. Cliff thought 
it would be an advantage to her, come with her sister 
and live in some portion of the new building which 
Mrs. Cliff did not intend to be otherwise occupied, 
and that they would pay whatever board Mrs. Cliff 
thought reasonable and proper, but in order to do 
this, it would be necessary for them to rent their pres- 
ent home. They would offer this house fully fur- 
nished, reserving the privilege of removing the most 
valuable heirlooms which it now contained, and, as 
soon as such an arrangement could be made, they 
would be willing to come to Mrs. Cliff and remain 
with her during the winter. 

128 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


When Miss Barbara had heard this decision her 
heart had fallen. She knew that it would be almost 
impossible to find a tenant who would take that house, 
especially for winter occupancy, and that even if a 
tenant could be found the rent would be very little. 
She knew, moreover, that having come to a decision, 
Eleanor could not be moved from it. 

She found Mr. Burke and Willy with Mrs. Cliff, 
but as he knew all about the project, and had taken 
great interest in it, she did not hesitate to tell her 
message before him. Mrs. Cliff was very much dis- 
appointed. 

“That ends the matter!” said she. “Your house 
cannot be rented for the winter ! ” 

“I don’t know about that ! ” exclaimed Mr. Burke 
“By George ! I’ll take the house myself! I want a 
house— I want just such a house. I want it furnished, 
—except I don’t want to be responsible for old heir- 
looms,— and I’m willing to pay a fair and reasonable 
rent for it. And I’m sure, although I never had the 
pleasure of being in it, it ought to bring rent enough 
to pay the board of any two ladies any winter, wher- 
ever they might be ! ” 

“But, Mr. Burke,” Miss Barbara said, her voice 
shaking as she spoke, “I must tell you that the roof 
is very much out of repair, and — ” 

“Oh, that doesn’t matter at all ! ” said Burke. “A 
tenant, if he’s the right sort of tenant, is bound to put 
a house into repair to suit himself. I’ll attend to the 
roof, if it needs it— you may be sure of that ! And if 
it doesn’t need it, I’ll leave it just as it is ! That’ll be 
all right and you can tell your sister that you’ve 
found a tenant. I’m getting dreadfully tired of living 
129 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


at that hotel, and a house of my own is something that 
I’ve never had before ! But one thing I must ask of 
you, Miss Thorpdyke : don’t say anything to your 
sister about tobacco smoke, and perhaps she will 
never think of it ! ” 


130 


CHAPTER XY 

MISS NANCY MAKES A CALL 

It was a day or two after the most satisfactory arrange- 
ment between the Thorpdykes, Mrs. Cliff, and Mr. 
Burke had been concluded, and before it had been 
made public, that Miss Nancy Shott came to call 
upon Mrs. Cliff. 

As she walked, stiff as a grenadier, and almost as 
tall, she passed by the new building without turning 
her head even to glance at it, and going directly up 
to the front door of the old house, she rang the bell. 

As Mrs. Cliff’s domestic household were all engaged 
in the new part of the building, the bell was not 
heard, and after waiting nearly a minute, Miss Shott 
rang it again, with such vigor that the door was soon 
opened by a maid, who informed her that Mrs. Cliff 
was not at home, but that Miss Croup was in. 

“Very well,” said Miss Shott, “I’ll see her !” And, 
passing the servant, she entered the old parlor. 

The maid followed her. 

“There’s no fire here,” she said. “Won’t you please 
walk into the other part of the house, which is heated? 
Miss Croup is over there.” 

“No ! ” said Miss Shott, seating herself upon the 
131 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


sofa. “This suits me very well, and Willy Croup can 
come to me here as well as anywhere else ! ” 

Presently Willy arrived, wishing very much that 
she also had been out. 

“Do come over to the other parlor, Miss Shott ! ” 
said she. “There’s no furnace heat here, because Mrs. 
Cliff didn’t want the old house altered, and we use 
this room so little that we haven’t made a fire.” 

“I thought you had the chimney put in order!” 
said Miss Shott, without moving from her seat. 
“Doesn’t it work right?” 

Willy assured her visitor that the chimney was in 
good condition, so far as she knew, and repeated her 
invitation to come into a warmer room, but to this 
Miss Shott paid no attention. 

“It’s an old saying,” said she, “that a bad chimney 
saves fuel ! I understand that you’ve all been to New 
York shopping?” 

“Yes,” said Willy, laughing, “it was a kind of 
shopping, but that’s not exactly what I’d call it ! ” 
And perceiving that Miss Shott intended to remain 
where she was, she took a seat. 

“Well, of course,” said Miss Shott, “everybody’s got 
to act according to their own judgments and con- 
sciences ! If I was going to buy winter things, I’d do 
what I could to help the business of my own town, 
and if I did happen to want anything I couldn’t get 
here, I’d surely go to Harrington, where the people 
might almost be called neighbors ! ” 

Willy laughed outright. “Oh, Miss Shott,” she 
said, “you couldn’t buy the things we bought, in Har- 
rington ! I don’t believe they could be found in 
Boston ! ” 


132 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


“I was speaking about myself/’ said Miss Nancy. 
“I could find anything I wanted in Harrington, and 
if my wants went ahead of what they had there, I 
should say that my wants were going too far, and 
ought to be curbed ! And so you took those poor old 
Thorpdyke women with you. I expect they must 
be nearly fagged out. I don’t see how the oldest one 
ever stood being dragged from store to store all over 
New York, as she must have been ! She’s a pretty 
old woman, and can’t be expected to stand even what 
another woman, younger than she is, but old enough, 
and excited by having money to spend, can stand ! 
It’s a wonder to me that you brought her back alive ! ” 

“Miss Eleanor came back a great deal better than 
she was when she left ! ” exclaimed Willy, indignantly. 
“She’ll tell you, if you ask her, that that visit to New 
York did her a great deal of good.” 

“No, she won’t!” said Miss Shott, “for she don’t 
speak to me. It’s been two years since I had any- 
thing to do with her ! ” 

Willy knew all about the quarrel between the 
Thorpdyke ladies and Nancy, and wished to change 
the subject. 

“Don’t you want to go and look at the new part of 
the house? ” she said. “Perhaps you’d like to see the 
things we’ve bought in New York, and it’s cold here ! ” 

To this invitation and the subsequent remark Miss 
Shott paid no attention. She did not intend to give 
Willy the pleasure of showing her over the house, and 
it was not at all necessary, for she had seen nearly 
everything in it. During the absence of Mrs. Cliff she 
had made many visits to the house, and as she was 
acquainted with the woman who had been left in 
133 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


charge, she had examined every room, from ground 
to roof, and had scrutinized and criticised the carpets 
as they had been laid, and the furniture as it had been 
put in place. 

She saw that Willy was beginning to shiver a little, 
and was well satisfied that she should feel cold. It 
would help take the conceit out of her. As for herself, 
she wore a warm cloak and did not mind a cold room. 

“I’m told,” she said, “that Mrs. Cliff’s putting up a 
new stable. What was the matter with the old one ? ” 

“It wasn’t big enough,” said Willy. 

“It holds two horses, don’t it?— and what could any- 
body want more than that, I’d like to know ! ” 

Willy was now getting a little out of temper. 

“That’s not enough for Mrs. Cliff,” she said. “She’s 
going to have a nice carriage and a pair of horses, and 
a regular coachman, not Andrew Marks ! ” 

“Well!” said Miss Shott, and for a few moments 
she sat silent. Then she spoke : “I suppose Mrs. 
Cliff’s goin’ to take boarders.” 

“Boarders!” cried Willy. “What makes you say 
such a thing as that?” 

“If she isn’t,” said Miss Shott, “I don’t see what she’ll 
do with all the rooms in that new part of the house.” 

“She’s goin’ to live in it,” said Willy. “That’s 
what she’s goin’ to do with it ! ” 

“Boarders are very uncertain,” remarked Miss 
Shott, “and just as likely to be a loss as a profit. Mr. 
Williams tried it at the hotel summer after summer, 
and if he couldn’t make anything, I don’t see how 
Mrs. Cliff can expect to.” 

“She doesn’t expect to take boarders, and you know 
it!” said Willy. 


134 


MRS. CLIFF’S YACHT 


Miss Shott folded her hands upon her lap. 

“It’s goin’ to he a dreadful hard winter. I never 
did see so many acorns and chestnuts, and there’s 
more cedar berries on the trees than I’ve ever known 
in all my life ! I expect there’ll be awful distress 
among the poor, and when I say ‘ poor ’ I don’t mean 
people that’s likely to suffer for food and a night’s 
lodging, but respectable people who have to work hard, 
and calculate day and night how to make both ends 
meet. These’re the folks that’re goin’ to suffer in body 
and mind this winter. And if people that’s got more 
money than they know what to do with, and don’t 
care to save up for old age and a rainy day, would 
think sometimes of their deserving neighbors who 
have to pinch and suffer when they’re goin’ round 
buyin’ rugs that must have cost at least as much as 
twenty dollars apiece, and which they don’t need at 
all, there bein’ carpet already on the floor, it would 
be more to their credit and benefit to their fellow- 
beings. But, of course, one person’s conscience isn’t 
another person’s, and we’ve each got to judge for 
ourselves, and be judged afterwards ! ” 

Now Willy leaned forward in her chair, and her 
eyes glistened. As her body grew colder, so did her 
temper grow warmer. 

“If it’s Mrs. Cliff you’re thinkin’ about, Nancy 
Shott,” said she, “I’ll just tell you that you’re as 
wrong as you can be ! There isn’t a more generous 
and a kinder person in this whole town than Mrs. 
Cliff is, and she isn’t only that way to-day, but she’s 
always been so, whether she’s had little or whether 
she’s had much ! ” 

“What did she ever do, I’d like to know?” said 
135 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


Miss Nancy. “ She’s lined her own nest pretty well, 
but what’s she ever done for anybody else—” 

“Now, Nancy Shott,” said Willy, “you know she’s 
been doin’ for other people all her life, whenever she 
could ! She’s done for you more than once, as I hap- 
pen to know, and she’s done for other neighbors and 
friends. And, more than that, she’s gone abroad to do 
good, and that’s more than anybody else in this town’s 
done, as I know of ! ” 

“She didn’t go to South America to do good to any- 
body but herself,” coolly remarked the visitor. 

“I’m not thinking of that ! ” said Willy. “She went 
there on business, as everybody knows ! But you 
remember well enough, when she was in the city, and 
I was with her, when the dreadful cholera times came 
on ! Everybody said that there wasn’t a person who 
worked harder and did more for the poor people who 
were brought to the hospital than Sarah did. She 
worked for them night and day, before they were 
dead and after they were dead ! I did what I could, 
but it wasn’t nothin’ to what she did ! Both of 
us had been buyin’ things, and makin’ them up for 
ourselves, for cotton and linen goods was so cheap 
then. If it hadn’t been for the troubles which came 
on, we’d had enough to last us for years ! But Sarah 
Cliff isn’t the kind of woman to keep things for herself 
when they’re wanted by others, and when she had 
given everything that she had to those poor creatures 
at the hospitals, she took my things, without as much 
as takin’ the trouble to ask me, for in times like that 
she isn’t the woman to hesitate when she thinks she’s 
doin’ what ought to be done, and at one time, in that 
hospital, there was eleven corpses in my night-gowns ! ” 
136 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


“ Horrible ! ” exclaimed Miss Shott, rising to her 
feet. “It would have killed me to think of such a 
thing as that ! ” 

“Well, if it would have killed you,” said Willy, 
“there was another night-gown left.” 

“If you’re going to talk that way,” said Miss Shott, 
“I might as well go. I supposed that when I came 
here I would at least have been treated civilly ! ” 


137 


CHAPTER XVI 


ME. BURKE MAKES A CALL 

Mrs. Cliff now began her life as a rich woman. The 
Thorpdykes were established in the new building; 
her carriage and horses, with a coachman in plain 
livery, were seen upon the streets of Plainton ; she 
gave dinners and teas, and subscribed in a modestly 
open way to appropriate charities ; she extended suit- 
able aid to the members of Mrs. Ferguson’s family, 
both living and departed ; and the fact that she was 
willing to help in church-work was made very plain 
by a remark of Miss Shott, who, upon a certain Sun- 
day morning, at the conclusion of services, happened 
to stop in front of Mrs. Cliff, who was going out of the 
church. 

“Oh,” said Miss Shott, suddenly stepping very much 
to one side, “I wouldn’t have got in your way if I’d 
remembered that it was you who pays the new choir ! ” 
Mr. Burke established himself in the Thorpdyke 
house, which he immediately repaired from top to bot- 
tom. But although he frequently repeated to himself 
and to his acquaintances that he had now set up 
housekeeping in just the way that he had always 
wished for, with plenty of servants to do everything 
138 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


just as he wanted it done, he was not happy, never- 
theless. He felt the loss of the stirring occupation 
which had so delighted him, and his active mind con- 
tinually looked right and left for something to do. 

He spoke to Mrs. Cliff in regard to the propriety 
of proposing to the Thorpdykes that he should build 
an addition to their house, declaring that such an 
addition would make the old mansion ever so much 
more valuable, and as to the cost, he would arrange 
that so that they would never feel the payment of it. 
But this suggestion met with no encouragement, and 
poor Burke was so hard put to it for something to 
occupy his mind that one day he asked Mrs. Cliff if 
she had entirely given up her idea of employing some 
of her fortune for the benefit of the native Peruvians, 
stating that if she wanted an agent to go down there 
to attend to that sort of thing, he believed he would 
be glad to go himself. 

But Mrs. Cliff did not intend to send anything to 
the native Peruvians. According to the arrangements 
that Captain Horn had made for their benefit, they 
would have as large a share of the Incas’ gold as they 
could possibly claim, and, therefore, she did not feel 
herself called upon to do anything. “If we had kept 
it all,” she said, “that would have been a different 
thing ! ” 

In fact, Mrs. Cliff’s conscience was now in a very 
easy and satisfied condition. She did not feel that 
she owed anything to her fellow-beings that she 
was not giving them, or that she owed anything to 
herself that she was not giving to herself. The ex- 
penses of building and of the improvements to her 
spacious grounds had been of so much assistance in 
139 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


removing the plethora of her income that she was 
greatly encouraged. She felt that she now had her 
fortune under control, and that she herself might be 
able to manage it for the future. Already she was 
making her plans for the next year. 

Many schemes she had for the worthy disposition of 
her wealth, and the more she thought of them and 
planned their details, the less inclined she felt to leave 
for an hour or two her spacious and sumptuous apart- 
ments in the new building, and go back to her little 
former home, where she might think of old times, 
and relieve her mind from the weight of the novelty 
and the richness of her new dining-room and its 
adjuncts. 

Often, as she sat in her stately drawing-room, she 
longed for her old friend Edna, and wished that she 
and the captain might come and see how well she had 
used her share of the great fortune. 

But Captain Horn and his wife were far away. Mrs. 
Cliff had frequent letters from Edna, which described 
their leisurely and delightful travels in the South and 
West. Their minds and bodies had been so strained 
and tired by hard thinking and hard work that all 
they wanted now was an enjoyment of life and the 
world as restful and as tranquil as they could make 
it. After a time they would choose some happy spot, 
and make for themselves a home. Three of the negroes, 
Maka and Cheditafa and Mok, were with them, and 
the others had been left on a farm where they might 
study methods of American agriculture until the 
time should come when the captain should require 
their services on his estate. Ralph was in Boston, 
where, in spite of his independent ideas in regard to 
140 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 

his education, he was preparing himself to enter 
Harvard. 

“I know what the captain means when he speaks of 
settling down ! ” said Burke, when he heard of this. 
“ He’ll buy a canon and two or three counties, and 
live out there like a lord ! And if he does that, I’ll 
go out and see him. I want to see this Inca money 
sprouting and flourishing a good deal more than it has 
done yet ! ” 

“What do you mean?” asked Mrs. Cliff. “Don’t 
you call this splendid house and everything in it a 
sign of sprouting and flourishing ? ” 

“Oh, my dear madam,” said Burke, rising from his 
seat and walking the floor, “if you could have looked 
through the hole in the top of the mound, and have 
seen under you cart-loads and cart-loads of pure gold, 
and had let your mind rest on what might have grown 
out of it, a house like this would have seemed like an 
acorn on an oak-tree ! ” 

“And you think the captain will have the oak- 
tree ? ” she asked. 

“Yes,” said Burke, “I think he’s the sort of man to 
want it, and if he wants it he’ll have it ! ” 

There were days when the weather was very bad, 
and time hung unusually heavy upon Mr. Burke’s 
hands, when he thought it might be a good thing to 
get married. He had a house, and money enough to 
keep a wife as well as any woman who would have 
him had any reason to expect. But there were two 
objections to this plan : in the first place, what would 
he do with his wife after he got tired of living in the 
Thorpdyke house ; and secondly, where could he find 
anybody he would like to marry f 
141 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


He had female acquaintances in Plainton, but not 
one of them seemed to have the qualifications he would 
desire in a wife. Willy Croup was a good-natured 
and pleasant woman, and he always liked to talk to 
her, but she was too old for him. He might like to 
adopt her as a maiden aunt, but then that would not 
be practicable, for Mrs. Cliff would not be willing to 
give her up. 

At this time Burke would have gone to make a 
visit to his mother, but there was also an objection to 
this. He would not have dared to present himself 
before her in his fur- trimmed overcoat and his high 
silk hat. She was a true sailor’s mother, and she 
would have laughed him to scorn, and so habituated 
had he become to the dress of a fine gentleman that it 
would have seriously interfered with his personal 
satisfaction to put on the rough winter clothes in 
which his mother would expect to see him. 

The same reason prevented him from going to his 
old friend Shirley. He knew very well that Shirley 
did not wear a high silk hat and carry a cane, and 
he had a sufficient knowledge of human nature and 
of himself to know that if his present personal ap- 
pearance were made the subject of ridicule, or even 
inordinate surprise, it would not afford him the 
same stimulating gratification which he now derived 
from it. 

Fortunately, the weather grew colder, and there 
was snow and excellent sleighing, and now Burke 
sent for a fine double sleigh, and, with a fur cap, a 
great fur collar over his overcoat, fur gloves, and an 
enormous lap-robe of fur, he jingled and glided over 
the country in great delight, enjoying the sight of the 
142 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


fur-garbed coachman in front of him almost as much 
as the glittering snow and the crisp, fresh air. 

He invited the ladies of the Cliff mansion to accom- 
pany him in these sleigh-rides, and although the Misses 
Thorpdyke did not fancy such cold amusement, Mrs. 
Cliff and Willy went with him a few times, and once 
Willy accompanied him alone. 

This positively decided the opinion of Plainton in 
regard to his reason for living in that town. But 
there were those who said that he might yet discover 
that his plans would not succeed. Mrs. Cliff now 
seemed to be in remarkably good health, and as it 
was not likely that Mr. Burke would actually propose 
marriage to Willy until he saw some signs of failing 
in Mrs. Cliff, he might have to wait a long, long time, 
during which his intended victim would probably grow 
so wrinkled and old that even the most debased of 
fortune-hunters would refuse to have her. Then, of 
course, the fine gentleman would find out that he had 
lost all the time he had spent scheming here in 
Plainton. 

The Buskirks were spending this winter in their 
country home, and one afternoon Mr. Burke thought 
he would drive up in his sleigh and make a call upon 
them. He had been there before, but had seen no 
one, and some weeks afterwards Mr. Buskirk had 
dropped in at the hotel, but had not found him. 
This sort of visiting did not suit our friend Burke, 
and he determined to go and see what a Buskirk was 
really like. 

Having jingled and pranced up to the front of the 
handsome mansion on the hill, and having been in- 
formed that the gentleman of the house was not at 
143 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


home, he asked for his lady, and, as she was in, he was 
ushered into a parlor. Here, having thrown aside 
some of his superincumbent furs, George Burke sat 
and looked about him. He had plenty of time for 
observation, for it was long before Mrs. Buskirk made 
her appearance. 

With the exception of Mrs. Cliff 1 's house, with which 
he had had so much to do, Burke had never before 
been inside a dwelling belonging to a very rich per- 
son, and the Buskirk mansion interested him very 
much. Although he was so little familiar with fine 
furniture, pictures, and bric-a-brac, he was a man of 
quick perceptions and good judgment, and it did not 
take him long to discover that the internal furnish- 
ings of the Buskirk house were far inferior to those 
of the addition to Mrs. Cliff’s old home. 

The room in which he sat was large and pretentious, 
but when it had been furnished there had been no 
lady of good family, accustomed to the furnishings of 
wealth and culture, and with an artistic taste gained 
in travel at home and abroad, to superintend the 
selection of these pictures, this carpet, and the cover- 
ings of this furniture. 

He laughed within himself as he sat, his fur cape on 
his knees and his silk hat in his hand, and he was so 
elated and pleased with the knowledge of the superi- 
ority of Mrs. Cliff’s home over this house of the proud 
city people who had so long looked down upon Plain- 
ton, that he entirely forgot his intention of recalling, 
as he sat in the fine parlor of the Buskirks, the olden 
times when he used to get up early in the morning 
and swab the deck. 

“These people ought to come down and see Mrs. 

144 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


Cliff’s house,” thought Burke, “and I 7 11 make them do 
it, if I can ! ” 

When Mrs. Buskirk, a lady who had always found 
it necessary to place strong guards around her social 
position, made her appearance, she received her 
visitor with an attentive civility. She had been im- 
pressed by his appearance when she had seen him 
grandly careering in his barouche oi his sleigh, and 
she was still more impressed as she saw him in her 
parlor with additional furs. She had heard he had 
been a sailor, and now, as she talked to him, the belief 
grew upon her that he might yet make a very good 
sailor. He was courteous, entirely at his ease, and 
perhaps a little too bland, and Mrs. Buskirk thought 
that although her husband might like to sit and 
smoke with this well-dressed, sunburnt man, he was 
not a person very desirable for the society of herself 
and daughters. 

But she was willing to sit and talk to Mr. Burke, 
for she wanted to ask him some questions about Mrs. 
Cliff. She had heard about that lady’s new house, or 
rather the improvement to her old one, and she had 
driven past it, and she did not altogether understand 
the state of affairs. 

She had known that Mrs. Cliff was the widow of a 
storekeeper of the town, and that she had come into 
possession of a portion of a treasure which had been 
discovered somewhere in the West Indies or South 
America, but those portions of treasures which might 
be allotted to the widow of a storekeeper in a little 
country town were not likely to be very much, and 
Mrs. Buskirk was anxious to know something definite 
about Mrs. Cliff’s present circumstances. 

145 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


Burke felt p a little embarrassed in regard to his 
answers. He knew that Mrs. Cliff was very anxious 
not to appear as a millionaire in the midst of the 
friends and associations of her native town— at least, 
that she did not desire to do so until her real financial 
position had been gradually understood and accepted. 
She would dislike nothing so much as to be regarded 
as the people in her social circle regarded the Bus- 
kirks on the hill. 

So Burke did not blaze out as he would have liked 
to do with a true and faithful statement of Mrs. Cliff’s 
great wealth,— far in excess, he was very sure, of that 
of the fine lady with whom he was talking,— but he 
said everything he could in a modest way, or what 
seemed so to him, in regard to his friend’s house and 
belongings. 

“But it seems to me,” said Mrs. Buskirk, “that it’s 
a very strange thing for any one to build a house 
such as the one you describe in such a neighborhood, 
when there are so many desirable locations on the 
outskirts of the town. The houses on the opposite 
side of the street are very small— some of them even 
mean. If I am not mistaken, there is a little shop some- 
where along there ! I should consider that that sort 
of thing would spoil any house, no matter how good 
it might be in itself ! ” 

“Oh, that makes no difference whatever ! ” said 
Burke, with a wave of his hand, and delighted to 
remember a proposition he had made to Mrs. Cliff, 
and which she had viewed with favor. “ Mrs. Cliff 
will soon settle all that ! She’s going to buy that 
whole block opposite to her and make a park of it. 
She’ll clear away all the houses, and everything be- 
146 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


longing to them, and she’ll plant trees, and lay out 
lawns and driveways, and have a regular landscape- 
gardener who’ll superintend everything. And she’s 
going to have the water brought in pipes which will 
end in some great rocks, which we’ll have hauled from 
the woods, and from under these rocks a brook will 
flow and meander through the park. And there’ll be 
flowers, and reeds, and rushes, and, very likely, a 
fountain with the spare water. That will be a 
public park for the use of the whole town, and you 
can see for yourself, madam, that it’ll be a grand 
thing to look out from Mrs. Cliff’s windows on such a 
beautiful place ! It will be fitted up and railed off 
very much after the style of her own grounds, so that 
the whole thing will be like a great estate right in 
the middle of the town. She’s thinkin’ of callin’ the 
park the 1 Grove of the Incas.’ That sounds nice, 
don’t you think so, madam?” 

“It sounds very well, indeed,” said Mrs. Buskirk. 
She had heard before of plans made by people who 
had suddenly come into possession of money. 

Burke saw that he had not yet made the impres- 
sion that he desired. He wanted, without actually 
saying so, to let this somewhat supercilious lady know 
that if the possession of money was a reason for social 
position,— and he knew of no other reason for the 
Buskirks’ position,— Mrs. Cliff would be aft, talking to 
the captain, while the Buskirks would be walking 
about by themselves amidship. 

But he did not know how to do this. He knew it 
would be no use to talk about horses and carriages, 
and all that sort of thing, for these the Buskirks pos- 
sessed, and their coachman wore top-boots— a thing 
147 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


Mrs. Cliff would never submit to. He was almost on 
the point of relinquishing his attempt to make Mrs. 
Buskirk call upon the widow of the storekeeper, when 
the lady helped him by asking, in a casual way, if Mrs. 
Cliff proposed living winter and summer in her new 
house. 

“No,” said Burke, “not in the summer. I hear 
Plainton is pretty hot in the summer, and she’ll 
go—” (a radiant thought came to him)— “I expect 
she’ll cruise about in her yacht during the warm 
weather.” 

“Her yacht ! ” exclaimed Mrs. Buskirk, for the first 
time exhibiting marks of actual interest. “Has Mrs. 
Cliff a yacht?” 

“She’s going to have one,” said Burke to himself, 
“and I’ll put her up to it before I go home this 
day.” 

“Yes,” he said aloud, “that is, she hasn’t got it yet, 
but she’s going to have it as soon as the season opens. 
I shall select it for her. I know all about yachts and 
every other kind of craft, and she’ll have one of the 
very finest on this coast. She’s a good sailer, Mrs. 
Cliff is, for I’ve cruised with her ! And nothing will 
she enjoy better in hot weather than her noble yacht 
and the open sea ! ” 

Now, this did make an impression upon Mrs. Bus- 
kirk. A citizen of Plainton who possessed a yacht 
was not to be disregarded. After this she was rather 
abstracted, and the conversation fell off. Burke saw 
that it was time for him to go, and as he had now said 
all he cared to say, he was willing to do so. 

In parting with him Mrs. Buskirk was rather more 
gracious than when she received him. “I hope, when 
148 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


you call again,” she said, “that you may find my hus- 
band at home. I know he will be glad to see you ! ” 
As Burke jingled and pranced away, he grinned 
behind his great fur collar. “She’ll call ! ” said he to 
himself. “She’ll call on the yacht, if she doesn’t call 
on anything else ! ” 


149 


CHAPTER XVII 

MRS. CLIFF’S YACHT 

When the interview with Mrs. Buskirk was reported 
that afternoon to Mrs. Cliff, the good lady sat aghast. 
“I’ve decided about the park,” she said, “and that is 
all very well. But what do you mean by a yacht? 
What could be more ridiculous than to talk about me 
and a yacht ! ” 

“Ridiculous ! ” exclaimed Burke. “It’s nothing of 
the kind ! The more I think of the idea, the better 
I like it, and if you’ll think of it soberly, I believe 
you’ll like it just as much as I do ! In the first place, 
you’ve got to do something to keep your money from 
being dammed up and running all over everything. 
This house and furniture cleared away things for a 
time, but the whole business will be just as much 
clogged up as it was before, if you don’t look out. I 
don’t want to give advice, but it does strike me that 
anybody as rich as you are oughtn’t to feel that they 
could afford to sit still here in Plainton, year in and 
year out, no matter how fine a house they might have ! 
They ought to think of that great heap of gold in the 
mound, and feel that it was their duty to get all the 
grand and glorious good out of it that they knew 
how ! ” 


150 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


“But it does seem to me” said Mrs. Cliff, “that a 
yacht would be an absolute extravagance and waste of 
money. And, you know, I have firmly determined I 
will not waste my money.” 

“To call sittin’ in a beautiful craft, on a rollin’ sea, 
with a spankin’ breeze, a waste of money, is some- 
thing I can’t get into my brain ! ” said Mr. Burke. 
“But you could do good with a yacht. You could 
take people out on cruises who would never get out if 
you didn’t take them ! And now I’ve an idea ! It’s 
just come to me. You might get a really big yacht. 
If I was you, I’d have a steam-yacht, because you’d 
have more control over that than you’d have over a 
sailin’ -vessel, and, besides, a person can get tired of 
sailin’ -vessels, as I’ve found out myself. And then 
you might start a sort of summer shelter for poor 
people— not only very poor people, but respectable 
people who never get a chance to sniff salt air. And 
you might spend part of the summer in giving such 
people what would be the same as country weeks, 
only you’d take them out to sea instead of shipping 
them inland to dawdle around farms. I tell you, 
that’s a splendid idea, and nobody’s done it.” 

Day after day, the project of the yacht was discussed 
by Mrs. Cliff and Burke, and she was beginning to 
view its benevolent features with a degree of favor 
when Mrs. Buskirk called. That lady’s visit was 
prompted partly by a curiosity to see what sort of a 
woman was the widow of the Plainton storekeeper 
who would cruise the next summer in her yacht, and 
partly by a feeling that to such a person a certain 
amount of respect was due, even from a Buskirk. 

But when she entered the house, passed through 
151 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


the great hall, and seated herself in the drawing-room, 
she saw more than she had expected to see. She saw 
a house immeasurably better fitted out and furnished 
than her own. She knew the value of the rugs which 
Miss Shott had declared must have cost at least twenty 
dollars each, and she felt, although she did not thor- 
oughly appreciate, the difference in artistic merit 
between the pictures upon her walls and the masterly 
paintings which had been selected by the ladies 
Thorpdyke for the drawing-room of Mrs. Cliff. 

The discovery startled her. She must talk to her 
husband about it as soon as he reached home. It was 
not only money, but a vast deal of money, and some- 
thing more, which had done all this. 

She had asked for the ladies, knowing that Mrs. 
Cliff did not live alone, and all the ladies were at 
home. Amid those surroundings, the elder Miss 
Thorpdyke, most carefully arrayed, made an im- 
pression upon Mrs. Buskirk very different from that 
she had produced on the occasion of their single 
former interview in the darkened little parlor of the 
Thorpdyke house. 

Mrs. Cliff, in a costume quite simple, but as rich as 
her conscience would allow, felt within herself all the 
uplifting influence of her wealth, as she stepped for- 
ward to salute this lady who had always been so 
uplifted by her wealth. 

In the course of the conversation, the yacht was 
mentioned. The visitor would not go away with- 
out being authoritatively informed upon this sub- 
ject. 

“Oh, yes,” said Mrs. Cliff, promptly, “I shall have a 
yacht next summer. Mr. Burke will select one for 
152 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


me, and I know it will be a good one, for be thor- 
oughly understands such matters.” 

Before she left, Mrs. Buskirk invited Mrs. Cliff, the 
Misses Thorpdyke, and Miss Croup to take luncheon 
with her quite informally on the following Tuesday. 
She would have made it a dinner, but in that case 
her husband would have been at home, and it would 
have been necessary to invite Mr. Burke, and she was 
not yet quite sure about Mr. Burke. 

This invitation, which soon became known through- 
out the town, decided the position of Mrs. Cliff at 
Plainton. When that lady and her family had gone, 
with her carriage and pair, to the mansion of the 
Buskirks on the hill, and had there partaken of 
luncheon, very informally, in company with three of 
the most distinguished ladies of Harrington, who had 
also been invited very informally, and when the news 
of the magnificent repast which had been served on 
the occasion, with flowers from the greenhouse nearly 
covering the table, with everything tied up with 
ribbons which could possibly be so decorated, and 
with a present for each guest ingeniously concealed 
under her napkin, floated down into the town, there 
was no woman in that place who could put her hand 
upon her heart and honestly declare that hereafter 
Mrs. Cliff could look up to anybody in Plainton. 

This recognition, which soon became obvious to 
Mrs. Cliff, was a source of genuine gratification to 
that good lady. She had never been inclined to put 
herself above her neighbors on account of her fortune, 
and would have been extremely grieved if she had 
been convinced that her wealth would oblige her to 
assume a superior position ; but when that wealth 
153 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


gradually and easily, without creating any disturb- 
ance or commotion in her circle, raised her of itself, 
without any action on her part, to the peak of social 
eminence in her native place, her genuine satisfaction 
was not interfered with in the least degree by her 
conscience. Her position had come to her, and she 
had assumed it as if she had been born to it. 

But whenever she thought of her preeminence,— 
and she did not think .of it nearly so often as other 
people thought of it,— she determined that it should 
make no difference to her, and when next she gave a 
high tea,— not the grand repast to which she intended 
to invite the Buskirks on the hill,— she invited Miss 
Cushing. How, there were people in Plainton who 
did not invite the dressmaker to their table, but Mrs. 
Cliff had asked her when they were all poor together, 
and she would have her now again when they were 
not all poor together. 

As the winter went on, Burke became more and 
more interested in Mrs. Cliff’s yacht, and if he had 
not had this subject to talk about, and plan about, 
and to go at all hours to see Mrs. Cliff about, it is 
likely that he would have been absolutely obliged to 
leave Plainton for want of occupation. But the idea 
of commanding a steam-yacht was attraction enough 
to keep him where he could continually consider it. 

He assured Mrs. Cliff that it was not at all neces- 
sary to wait until pleasant weather before undertaking 
this great enterprise. As soon as the harbors were 
reasonably free of ice, it would be well for him to go 
and look at yachts, and then, when he found one 
which suited him, Mrs. Cliff could go and look at it, 
and if it suited her, it could be immediately put into 
154 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


commission. They could steam down into Southern 
waters, and cruise about there. The spring up here 
in the North was more disagreeable than any other 
season of the year, and why should they not go and 
spend that season in the tranquil and beautiful waters 
of Florida or the West Indies? 

Mrs. Cliff had now fully determined to become the 
owner of a yacht, but she would not do so unless she 
saw her way clear to carry out the benevolent features 
of the plan which Mr. Burke had suggested. 

“What I want,” said Mrs. Cliff, “is to have the 
whole thing understood ! I am perfectly willing to 
spend some of the pleasant months sailing about the 
coast, and feeling that I’m giving health and pleasure 
to poor and deserving people, especially children, but 
I am not willing to consider myself a rich woman who 
keeps an expensive yacht just for the pleasure of 
cruising around when she feels like it ! But I do like 
the plan of giving country weeks at sea.” 

“Very good, madam,” he said, “and we can fix that 
thing so that nobody can possibly make any mistake 
about it. What do you say to calling your yacht the 
Summer Shelter ? We’ll paint the name in white 
letters on the bows and stern, and nobody can take us 
for idle sea loafers with more money than we know 
what to do with ! ” 

“I like that ! ” said Mrs. Cliff, her face brightening. 
“You may buy me a yacht as soon as you please, and 
we’ll call her the Summer Shelter ! ” 

In consequence of this order, Mr. Burke departed 
from Plainton the next day, and began a series of ex- 
peditions to the seaport towns on the Atlantic coast 
in search of a steam-yacht for sale. 

155 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


The winter grew colder, and the weather was very 
bad. There were heavy snows and drifts, and many 
hardships. There were cases of privations and suffer- 
ing, and never did she hear of one of these cases that 
a thankful glow did not warm the heart of Mrs. Cliff 
as she thought that she was able to relieve it. 

But Mrs. Cliff knew, and if she had not known she 
would have soon found out, that it was often very diffi- 
cult to relieve distress of body without causing distress 
of mind. However, she and Willy and the Misses 
Thorpdyke had known all phases of the evil which 
has its root in the want of money, and they always 
considered people’s sensibilities when they held 
charitable councils. There was one case in which Mrs. 
Cliff felt that she must be very careful, indeed. 

Old Haney Shott was not standing the winter well. 
She had a bad cold, and was confined to her bed, and 
one day Miss Inchman mentioned, during a call on 
Mrs. Cliff, that she did not believe the poor old thing 
was able to keep herself warm. She had been to see 
her, and the coverings on her bed were very insuffi- 
cient, she thought. 

The Shotts never did keep a warm house, nor did 
they care to spend their money upon warm clothes ; 
but although that sort of thing might do very well 
while they were in health and were constantly on the 
move, it did not do when they were sick in bed. 
When Miss Inchman had gone, Mrs. Cliff called 
Willy. 

“Where are we using those California blankets 
which I brought home with me ? ” she asked. 

“Using them!” exclaimed Willy. “We aren’t 
using them anywhere. I’m sure nobody would think 
156 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


of using such blankets as those, except when some 
extra company might happen to come. It ought to be 
a long time before those blankets would have to go 
into the wash*, and I’ve kept them covered up on the 
top shelf of the linen- closet ! ” 

“Well, I wish you would go and get them,” said 
Mrs. Cliff, “and then wrap them up and take them 
to Miss Shott as a present from me.” 

“Take them to Nancy Shott!” cried Willy. “I 
never heard of such a thing in my life ! She’s able to 
buy blankets,— dozens of them, if she wants them,— 
and to take to her such blankets as the ones you 
brought from California— why, it takes my breath 
away to think of it ! ” 

“But you must take them to her,” said Mrs. Cliff. 
“She may be stingy, but she is suffering, and I want 
her to have those blankets because they are the very 
best that I could possibly send her. You can get 
Andrew Marks to drive you there, but stop two or 
three doors from the house. She will think you are 
putting on airs if you drive up to the door. And I 
wish you would give her the blankets just as if it was 
a matter of course that anybody would send things to 
a sick person.” 

“Oh, yes ! ” said Willy. “As if you hadn’t a pot of 
jelly to spare, and so sent her these blankets fit for an 
emperor on his throne ! ” 

That very evening the reluctant Willy took the 
blankets to Miss Shott, for Mrs. Cliff knew it was 
going to be a very cold night, and she wanted her to 
have them as soon as possible. 

When Nancy Shott beheld the heavy and beautiful 
fabrics of fine wool which Willy spread out upon her 
157 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


bed in order that she might better examine them, the 
eyes of the poor old woman flashed with admiring 
delight. 

“Well,” said she, “Sarah Cliff has got a memory ! ” 
“What do you mean?” asked Willy. 

“Why, she remembers,” said Miss Shott, “that I 
once joined in to give her a pair of blankets ! ” 

“Good gracious ! ” exclaimed Willy, and she was on 
the point of speaking her mind in regard to the salient 
points in the two transactions, but she refrained. The 
poor old thing was sick, and she must not say anything 
to excite her. 

“I suppose,” said Miss Shott, after lifting a corner of 
a blanket and rubbing and pinching it, “that these 
are all wool ! ” 

Then Willy thought herself privileged to speak, 
and for some minutes she dilated on the merits of those 
superb blankets, the like of which were not to be 
found in the whole State, and, perhaps, not in any 
State east of the Eocky Mountains. 

“Well,” said Miss Shott, “you may tell her that I 
will not throw her present back at her, as she once 
threw one back at me ! And now that you’re here, 
Willy Croup, I may as well say to you what I’ve in- 
tended to say to you the next time I saw you. And 
that is that when I was at your house you told me an 
out-and-out falsehood,— I won’t use any stronger word 
than that,— and how you could sleep after having 
done it I’m sure I don’t know ! ” 

“Falsehood ! ” cried Willy. “What do you mean ? ” 
“You told me,” said Nancy, “that Mrs. Cliff wasn’t 
goin’ to take boarders— and now look at those 
Thorpdykes! Not two days after you tried to de- 
158 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


ceive me, they went there to board ! And now, what 
have you got to say to that?” 

Willy had not a word to say. She sprang to her 
feet, she glared at the triumphant woman in the bed, 
and, turning, went down-stairs. 


159 


CHAPTEK XVIII 


THE DAWN OF THE GROVE OF THE INCAS 

A man may have command of all the money necessary, 
and he may have plenty of knowledge and experience 
in regard to the various qualities of sea-going vessels, 
but even with these great advantages he may find it 
a very difficult thing to buy, ready to his hand, a 
suitable steam-yacht. The truth of this statement was 
acknowledged by Mr. Burke after he had spent nearly 
a month in Boston, New York, and various points 
between these cities, and, after advertising, inquiring, 
and investigating the subject in all possible ways, 
found nothing which he could recommend Mrs. Cliff 
to purchase. 

He wrote to her a great many letters during this 
period, all of which were interesting, although there 
were portions of many of them which she did not 
quite understand, being expressed in a somewhat 
technical fashion. Burke liked to write letters. It 
was a novel experience for him to have time to write 
and something to write about. He had been better 
educated than the ordinary sailor, and his intelligence 
and habits of observation enabled him to supplement 
to a considerable extent what he had learned at 
160 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


school. His spelling and grammar were sometimes 
at fault, but his handwriting was extremely plain and 
distinct, and Willy Croup, who always read his letters, 
declared that it was much better to write plainly than 
to be always correct in other respects, for what was 
the good of proper spelling and grammar, if people 
could not make out what was written ? 

Mrs. Cliff was not at all disturbed by the delay in 
the purchase of a yacht, for, according to her idea, it 
would be a long time yet before it was pleasant to 
sail upon the sea, and if it was interesting to Mr. 
Burke to go from place to place, and have interviews 
with ship-owners and seafaring people, she was glad 
that she was able to give him an opportunity to do so. 

As for herself, she was in a pleasant state of feminine 
satisfaction. Without any sort of presumption or 
even effort on her part, she had attained a high and 
unquestioned position among her fellow-citizens, and 
her mind was not set upon maintaining that position 
by worthy and unoffensive methods of using her 
riches. 

She now had a definite purpose in life. If she 
could make herself happy and a great many other 
people happy, and only a few people envious or 
jealous, and, at the same time, feel that she was living 
and doing things as a person of good common sense 
and great wealth ought to live and do things, what 
more could be expected of her in this life ? 

Thus backed up by her conscience and her check- 
book, she sat, morning after morning, before a cheerful 
fire of hickory logs and outlined her career. This was 
in the parlor of her old house, which she now deter- 
mined to use as an office or business-room. She could 


161 


MRS. CLIFF’S YACHT 


afford the warmest fire of the best-seasoned wood, her 
chimney was in perfect order, and she was but fifty-five 
years old and in excellent health. Why should she 
not enjoy the exhilarating blaze, and plan for years of 
exhilarating occupation ? 

Soon after Mr. Burke left Plainton Mrs. Cliff began 
work upon the new park. This she could do without 
his assistance, and it was work the mere contempla- 
tion of which delighted her. She had legal assistance 
in regard to the purchase of the grounds and build- 
ings of the opposite block, and while this was in the 
hands of her lawyers, she was in daily consultation 
with an eminent landscape-constructor who had come 
to Plainton for the purpose. He lodged at the hotel, 
and drew most beautiful plans of the proposed park. 

In the happy morning hours during which Mrs. 
Cliff’s mind wandered over the beautiful drives, or 
stood upon the rustic bridges which crossed the stream 
dashing among its rocks and spreading itself out into 
placid pools, or when, mentally, she sat in the shade 
of the great trees and looked out upon the wide 
stretches of verdant lawn, relieved by the brilliant 
colors of the flower-beds, she often felt it was almost 
the same thing as if it were actually summer, and 
that she really saw the beautiful grass and flowers, 
heard the babbling of the stream, and felt the refresh- 
ing breezes which rustled the great limbs of the trees. 

She did not selfishly keep these pleasures to herself, 
but often, on the stormy evenings, she and Willy and 
the Misses Thorpdyke would go over the brilliantly 
colored plans of the Incas’ Grove, admire what had 
been proposed, and suggest things which they thought 
would be desirable. Miss Thorpdyke, who had a vivid 
162 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


recollection of the Gardens of the Luxembourg, spoke 
of many of their beautiful and classic features which 
she would recommend for the new park if it were not 
that they would cost so much money. All these were 
noted down with great care by Mrs. Cliff, and men- 
tioned to the landscape-constructor the next day. 

Thus at home, in church circles, in the society of 
the town, and in the mental contemplation of the 
charming landscape which, in consequence of her own 
will and command, would soon spread itself out before 
her windows, Mrs. Cliff was very happy. But among 
all her sources of enjoyment there was nothing, per- 
haps, which pleased her better than to think, on a cold 
winter’s night, when the piercing winds were roaring 
about the house, that poor old Nancy Shott was lying- 
warm and comfortable under two of the finest blan- 
kets which ever came from Californian looms. 

The great object of Willy Croup’s thoughts at this 
time was not the park,— for she could not properly 
appreciate trees and grass in this shivery weather,— 
but the entertainment, the grand lunch or the very 
high tea, which was to be given to Mrs. Buskirk and her 
daughters on the hill. This important event had been 
postponed because the sleighing had become rather 
bad and the Buskirks had gone to the city. 

But as soon as they returned, Willy hoped with all 
her heart that Mrs. Cliff would be able to show them 
what might be done in the line of hospitable entertain- 
ment by people who had not only money but some- 
thing more. There had been a time when Willy 
thought that when people wished to entertain there 
was nothing needed but money, but then she had 
not lived in the house with the Misses Thorpdyke, 
163 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 

and had not heard them and Mrs. Cliff discuss such 
matters. 

The peace of mind of Mrs. Cliff was disturbed one 
day by the receipt of a letter from Mr. Burke, who 
wrote from New York and informed her that he had 
found a yacht which he believed would suit her, and 
he wished very much that she would come and look 
at it before he completed the purchase. 

Mrs. Cliff did not wish to go to New York and look 
at yachts. She had then under consideration the plan 
of a semicircular marble terrace which was to overlook 
one end of a shaded lakelet, which Mr. Humphreys, 
her professional adviser, assured her she could have 
just as well as not, by means of a dam, and she did 
not wish to interrupt this most interesting occupation. 
Mr. Humphreys had procured photographs of some of 
the romantic spots of the Luxembourg, and Mrs. Cliff 
felt within herself the gladdening impulses of a good 
magician as she planned the imitation of all this 
classic beauty. 

Besides, it was the middle of March, and cold, and 
not at all the season in which she would be able to 
appreciate properly the merits of a yacht. Still, as 
Mr. Burke had found the vessel, and wanted her to see 
it, and as there was a possibility, he had written, that 
delay might cause her to lose the opportunity of get- 
ting what she wanted, and as she was very desirous of 
pleasing him, she decided that she and Willy would 
go to New York and look at the vessel. 

It would not take long, because, of course, Mr. 
Burke had already found out everything that was 
necessary in regard to its sea-going qualities, and a 
great many other things of which she would not be a 
164 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


judge. In fact, it was not necessary for her to go at 
all, hut as she was to pay for it, Mr. Burke would be 
better satisfied if she saw it before doing so. 

It was very pleasant to think that she could go 
away whenever she pleased, and leave her house in the 
care of two such ladies as Miss Eleanor Thorpdyke 
and her sister. 


165 


CHAPTER XIX 

THE “SUMMER SHELTER” 

When Mrs. Cliff and Willy, as well wrapped np in 
liandsome furs as Mr. Burke himself, who accompanied 
them, left their New York hotel to drive over to 
Brooklyn and examine the yacht which had been 
selected, Willy’s mind vainly endeavored to form 
within itself an image of the object of the expedition. 

She was so thoroughly an inland woman, and had so 
little knowledge of matters connected with the sea, 
that when she first heard the mention of the yacht, it 
had brought into her mind the idea of an Asiatic 
animal with long hair, and used as a beast of burden, 
which she had read about in her school-books. But 
when she had discovered that the object in question 
was a vessel, and not a bovine ruminant, her mind 
carried her no farther than to a pleasure boat with a 
sail to it. 

Even Mrs. Cliff, who had travelled, had inadequate 
ideas concerning a steam-yacht. She had seen the 
small steamers which ran upon the Seine, and she had 
taken little trips upon them, and if she had given the 
subject careful consideration she might have thought 
that the yacht intended for the use of a private indi- 
vidual would be somewhat smaller than one of these. 


166 


MRS. CLIFF’S YACHT 


It would be difficult, therefore, to imagine the sur- 
prise and even amazement of Mrs. Cliff and Willy 
Croup when they beheld the vessel to which Mr. 
Burke conducted them. It was, in fact, a sea-going 
steamer of small comparative size, it is true, but of 
towering proportions when compared with the ideals 
in the minds of the two female citizens of Plainton who 
had come, the one to view it and the other to buy it. 

“Before we go on board,” said Mr. Burke, as he 
proudly stood upon the pier, holding fast to his silk 
hat in the cold breeze which swept along the water- 
front, “I want you to take a general look at her. I 
don’t suppose you know anything about her lines and 
build, but I can tell you they’re all right ! But you 
can see for yourselves that she’s likely to be a fine, 
solid, comfortable craft, and won’t go pitchin’ and 
tossin’ around like the crafts that some people go to 
sea in ! ” 

“Why, the name is on it ! ” cried Willy. “ Summer 
Shelter ! How did you happen to find one with that 
name, Mr. Burke ? ” 

“Oh, I didn’t,” said he. “She had another name, 
but I wanted you to see her just as she’d look if she 
really belonged to you, so I had the other name 
painted out and this put on in good, big white letters 
that can be seen for a long distance. If you don’t buy 
her, Mrs. Cliff, of course I’ll have the old name put 
back again. Now, what do you think of her, Mrs. 
Cliff, lookin’ at her from this point of view ? ” 

The good lady stood silent. She gazed at the long, 
high hull of the steamer, she looked up at the black 
smoke-stack, and at the masts which ran up so shapely 
and so far, and her soul rose higher than it had been 
167 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 

uplifted even by the visions of the future Grove of 
the Incas. 

“I think it is absolutely splendid ! ” said she. “Let 
us go in ! ” 

“On board, madam/’ said Burke, gently correcting 
her. “This way to the gang-plank ! ” 

For nearly two hours Mrs. Cliff and Willy wandered 
over the upper and lower decks of the yacht, ex- 
amined its pretty little state-rooms, sat excitedly 
upon the sofas of its handsomely decorated saloon, 
examined the folding tables and all the other wonder- 
ful things which shut themselves up out of the way 
when they were not needed, tapped the keys of the 
piano, investigated the store-rooms, lockers, and all 
the marine domestic conveniences, and forgot it was 
winter, forgot that the keen wind nearly blew their 
bonnets off as they walked the upper deck, and felt 
what a grand thing it would be to sail upon the sea 
upon such a noble vessel. 

To all this there was added, in Mrs. Cliff’s mind, the 
proud feeling that it would be her own, and in it she 
could go wherever she pleased, and come back again 
when it suited her. 

Willy, who had never been to sea, was perfectly 
free to form an idea of an ocean voyage as delightful 
and charming as she pleased, and this she did with 
great enthusiasm. Even had it been necessary that 
this perfectly lovely vessel should remain moored at 
the pier, it would have given joy to her soul to live 
in it, to sleep in one of those sweet little rooms, and to 
eat and read and sew in that beautiful saloon. 

“Mr. Burke,” said Mrs. Cliff, “I don’t believe you 
168 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


could find any vessel better suited to our purpose than 
this one, and I wish you would buy it ! ” 

u Madam/ 7 said Burke, “I’ll do it immediately ! 
And I tell you, madam, that this is a wonderful 
chance for this time of the year, when yachts and 
pleasure crafts in this part of the world are generally 
laid up and can’t be seen properly, and, what’s more, 
would have to be docked and overhauled generally 
before they would be ready for sea. But here is a 
yacht that’s been cruising down South and in the 
West Indies, and has just come up here, and is all 
ready to go to sea again whenever you like it. If you 
don’t mind going home by yourselves, I’ll go to the 
office of the agent of the owner, and settle the busi- 
ness at once ! ” 

It would have been impossible for any purchase or 
any possession of palace, pyramid, or principality to 
make prouder the heart of Mrs. Cliff than did the 
consciousness that she was the owner of a fine sea- 
vessel worked by steam. She acknowledged to her- 
self that if she had been at home she could not have 
prevented herself from putting on those airs which 
she had been so anxious to avoid. But these would 
wear off very soon, she knew, and so long as there was 
no one, except Willy, to notice a possible change of 
manner, it did not matter. 

Now that Mrs. Cliff and Willy were in New York, 
they agreed that it would be well for them to 
attend to some shopping for which they had intended 
coming to the city later in the spring. It had been 
found that there were many things wanted to sup- 
plement the furnishing of the new house, and to the 
169 


MRS. CLIFF’S YACHT 

purchase of these the two ladies now devoted their 
mornings. 

But every afternoon, in company with Mr. Burke, 
they went on hoard the Summer Shelter to see what he 
had been doing, and to consult with him about what 
he was going to do. It was astonishing how many 
little things were needed to be done to a yacht just 
returned from a cruise, and how interesting all these 
things were to Mrs. Cliff and Willy, considering that 
they knew so little about them. 

The engineer and fireman had not been discharged, 
but were acting as watchmen, and Burke strongly 
recommended that they should be engaged immedi- 
ately, because, as he said, if Mrs. Cliff were to let 
them go, it would be difficult to get such men again. 
“It is a little expensive, to be sure, but when a yacht 
is not laid up,” he said, “there should always be men 
aboard of her.” And so the painting, and the clean- 
ing, and the necessary fitting up went on, and Mr. 
Burke was very happy, and Mrs. Cliff was very proud, 
although the external manifestation of this feeling 
was gradually wearing off. 

“I don’t want to give advice, madam,” said Burke, 
one evening, as the little party sat together discuss- 
ing nautical matters, “but if I was in your place, I 
wouldn’t go back to Plainton before I had taken a 
little trial-trip on the yacht. It doesn’t matter a bit 
about the weather ! After we get out to sea, it will 
be only a few days before we find we’re in real spring 
weather and the warm water of the Gulf Stream. We 
can touch at Savannah, and cruise along the Florida 
coast, and then go over to the Bahamas, and look 
around as long as we feel like. And when we get 
170 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


back here it will be beginning to be milder, and then 
you can go home and arrange for the voyages you’re 
goin’ to make in her during the summer.” 

Mrs. Cliff considered. This was a tempting proposi- 
tion. And while she considered, Willy sat and looked 
at her with glowing cheeks and half-open mouth. It 
would not have required one second for her to decide 
such a question. 

“You know,” said Mr. Burke, “it wouldn’t take me 
long to get her ready for sea. I could soon coal her 
and put her stores aboard, and as to a crew, I can get 
one in no time. We could leave port in a week just 
as well as not ! ” 

“Let’s go ! ” said Willy, seizing the hand of her 
friend. “It need only be a little trip, just to see how 
it would all feel.” 

Mrs. Cliff smiled. “Very good,” said she, “we’ll 
take a little trial-trip just as soon as you are ready, 
Captain Burke !— that is, if you have not made any 
plans which will prevent you from accepting the posi- 
tion.” 

“Madam,” said Burke, springing to his feet and 
standing proudly before Mrs. Cliff, “I’d throw up the 
command of the finest liner on the Atlantic to be cap- 
tain of the Summer Shelter for this summer ! I see far 
more fun ahead in the cruises that you’re going to 
make than in any voyage I’ve looked forward to yet, 
and when people have a chance to mix fun and charity 
as we’re goin’ to mix them, I say such people ought to 
call themselves lucky ! This is Wednesday. Well, 
now, madam, by next Wednesday the Summer Shelter 
will be all fitted out for the cruise, and she’ll be ready 
to sail out of the harbor at whatever hour you 
171 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 

name, for the tide won’t make any difference to 
her ! ” 

“ There is only one thing I don’t like about the ar- 
rangement,” said Mrs. Cliff, when the captain had left 
them, “and that is that we will have to take this trip 
by ourselves. It seems a pity for three people to go 
sailing around in a big vessel like that, with most of 
the state-rooms empty. But, of course, people are not 
prepared yet for country weeks at sea ! And it will 
take some time to make my plans known in the proper 
quarters.” 

“I don’t suppose,” said Willy, “that there’s any- 
body in Plainton that we could send for on short 
notice. People there want so much time to get ready 
to do anything ! ” 

“But there is nobody in the town that I would care 
to take on a first voyage,” said Mrs. Cliff. “You 
know, something might go wrong, and we would have 
to come back, and if it is found necessary to do that, 
I don’t want any Plainton people on board ! ” 

“No, indeed ! ” exclaimed Willy, her mind involun- 
tarily running toward Nancy Shott, to whom a voyage 
to the West Indies would doubtless be of great ser- 
vice. “Don’t let’s bother about anything of that 
kind. Let’s make the first trip by ourselves. I 
think that will be glorious ! ” 


172 


CHAPTER XX 


THE SYNOD 

As most of Mrs. Cliffs business in New York was now 
finished, and as she and Willy were waiting there only 
for the yacht to be made ready for sea, she had a good 
deal of time on her hands. 

On the Saturday following her decision to make a 
trial-trip on the Summer Shelter , when returning from 
the daily visit to the yacht, Mrs. Cliff stopped in at a 
Brooklyn church in which a Synod was at that time 
convened. She had read of the proceedings of this 
body in the papers, and as the deliberations con- 
cerned her own denomination, she thought she would 
be interested in them. Willy, however, preferred to 
go on by herself to New York, as she had something 
to do there which she thought would be more to her 
taste than the proceedings of a Synod. 

It was not long after she had been seated in the 
church that Mrs. Cliff began to regret that she had 
not attended some of the earlier meetings, for the 
questions debated were those in which she took an 
interest. 

After a time she saw near her Mrs. Arkwright, a 
lady who had visited Mrs. Perley some years before, 
and with whom she had then become acquainted. 

173 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


Joining her, Mrs. Cliff found Mrs. Arkwright able to 
give her a great deal of information in regard to the 
members of the Synod, and as the two sat and talked 
together in whispers, a desire arose in the mind of 
Mrs. Cliff that she and her wealth might in some way 
join in the work in which all these people were en- 
gaged. As her mind rested upon this subject, there 
came into it a plan which pleased her. Here were all 
these delegates, many of them looking tired and pale, 
as if they had been hard worked during the winter, 
and here was she, the mistress of the Summer Shelter , 
about to take a trip to warm and sunny regions in 
an almost empty vessel. 

As soon as the meeting adjourned, Mrs. Cliff, accom- 
panied by Mrs. Arkwright, made her way to the front, 
where many of the members were standing together, 
and was introduced by her friend to several clergymen 
with whom Mrs. Arkwright was acquainted. As soon 
as possible, Mrs. Cliff referred to the subject which was 
upon her mind, and informed the gentlemen with 
whom she had just been made acquainted that, if they 
thought well of it, she would like to invite a party of 
such of the delegates who would care for such an ex- 
cursion at this season to accompany her on a short 
trip to the West Indies. Her vessel would easily ac- 
commodate twelve or fifteen of the gentlemen, and 
she would prefer to offer her invitation first to the 
clerical members of the Synod. 

The reverend gentlemen to whom this offer was 
made were a little surprised by it, but they could not 
help considering it a most generous and attractive 
proposition, and one of them undertook to convey the 
invitation to some of his brethren of the Synod. 

174 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


Although the Synod had adjourned, many of the 
delegates remained for a considerable time, during 
which Mrs. Cliff’s invitation was discussed with lively 
appreciation, some of the speakers informing her that, 
if they could make the arrangements necessary for 
their pulpits and their families during a short absence, 
they would be delighted to accept her invitation. 
The Synod would finally adjourn on the next Tues- 
day, and she was promised that before that time she 
would be informed of the exact number of guests she 
might expect. 

The next day, when Mr. Burke appeared to ac- 
company the ladies to the yacht, he found Willy 
Croup alone in their parlor. 

“Do you know what’s happened?” cried Willy, 
springing toward him as he entered. “Of course you 
don’t, for Mrs. Cliff is going to give the first country 
week on the Summer Shelter to a Synod ! ” 

“To a what?” cried Burke. 

“A Synod,” explained Willy. “It’s a congregation, 
I mean a meeting, mostly of ministers, come together 
to settle church matters. She invited the whole lot 
of them, but, of course, they all can’t come,— for there 
are more than a hundred of them,— but there will be 
about a dozen who can sail with us next Wednes- 
day ! ” 

Mr. Burke’s jaw dropped. “A dozen ministers ! ” 
he exclaimed. “Sail with us ! By George ! Miss 
Croup, will you excuse me if I sit down?” 

“You know,” said Willy, “that the Summer Shelter 
was bought for this sort of thing— that is, to do good 
to people who can’t get that sort of good in other 
ways ! And if Mrs. Cliff takes out poor children from 
175 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


the slums, and hard-working shop-girls and seam- 
stresses, why shouldn’t she take hard-working minis- 
ters and give them some fresh air and pleasure f” 

“A dozen ministers ! ” groaned Mr. Burke. “I tell 
you, Miss Croup, I can’t take them in l ” 

“Oh, there’ll he room enough ! ” said Willy, mis- 
taking his meaning, “for Mrs. Cliff says that each of 
those little rooms will easily hold two.” 

“Oh, it isn’t that ! ” said Burke, his eyes fixed stead- 
fastly upon a chair near him, as if it had been some- 
thing to look at. “But twelve ministers coming 
down on me so sudden rather takes me aback, Miss 
Croup ! ” 

“I don’t wonder,” said Willy, “for I don’t believe 
that a Synod ever went out yachting before in a 
bunch ! ” 

Mr. Burke rose and looked out of the window. 
“Miss Croup,” said he, “do you remember what I 
said about mixin’ fun and charity in these cruises? 
Well, I guess we’ll have to take our charity straight 
this time ! ” 

But when Mrs. Cliff had come in, and had talked 
with animation and enthusiasm in regard to her plan, 
the effects of the shock which Mr. Burke had received 
began to wear off. 

“All right, madam ! ” said he. “You’re owner, and 
I’m captain, and I’ll stand by you ! And if you take 
it into your head to ship a dozen popes on the Summer 
Shelter , I’ll take them where you want them to go to, 
and I’ll bring them back safe. I suppose we’ll have 
all sorts of customers on the yacht this season, and if 
we’ve got to get used to queer passengers, a Synod 
will do very well to begin with ! If you’ll find out 
176 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


who’s goin’, and will write to them to be on hand 
Tuesday night, I’ll see that they’re taken care of.” 

Mrs. Cliff’s whole heart was now in the projected 
cruise of the Summer Shelter. When she had thought 
of it with only Willy and herself as passengers, she 
could not help considering it was a great extrava- 
gance. Now she was going to begin her series of sea 
trips in a fashion far superior and more dignified than 
anything yet thought of. To be able to give such an 
invitation to a Synod was something of which she 
might well be proud, and she was proud. 


177 


CHAPTER XXI 


A TELEGRAM FROM CAPTAIN HORN 

It was early Tuesday morning, and Mrs. Cliff and 
Willy, having just finished their breakfast, were busily 
engaged in packing the two trunks they proposed 
taking with them, and the elder lady was stating that 
although she was perfectly willing to dress in the blue 
flannel suit which had been ordered, she was not 
willing to wear a white cap, although Willy urged 
that this was the proper thing, as they had been told 
by the people where they had bought their yachting 
suits, and Mrs. Cliff was still insisting that although 
it would do very well for Willy to wear a white cap, 
she would wear a hood,— the same kind of a hood 
which she had worn on all her other voyages, which 
was more like a bonnet, and more suitable to her on 
that account than any other kind of head-covering, — 
when Mr. Burke burst,— actually burst,— without 
knocking, into the room. His silk hat was on the 
back of his head, and he wore no overcoat. 

a Mrs. Cliff / 7 he exclaimed, “Fve just seen Shirley ! 
You remember Shirley ? 77 

“ Indeed, I do , 77 said Mrs. Cliff. “I remember him 
very well, and I always thought him to be a remark- 
178 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


ably nice man ! But where did yon see him, and what 
in the world did he tell you to throw you into such 
a flurry ? 77 

“He said a lot to me ! 77 replied Burke. “And I’ll 
try to make as straight a tale of it as I can ! You 
see, about a week ago Shirley got a telegraphic mes- 
sage from Captain Horn — 77 

“Captain Horn ! 77 exclaimed Mrs. Cliff. “Where 
is he, and what did he say ? 77 

“He’s in Mexico , 77 said Burke, “and the telegram 
was as long as a letter,— that’s one advantage in not 
being obliged to think of what things cost,— and he 
told Shirley a lot — 77 

“How did he say they were ? 77 asked Mrs. Cliff, 
eagerly. “Or did he say anything about Mrs. Horn? 
Are they well ? 77 

“Oh, I expect they’re all right,” said Burke, “but 
I don’t think he treated that subject. It was all 
about that gold, and the part of it that was to go to 
Peru ! 

“When the business of dividing up the treasure was 
settled in London in the way we know all about, word 
was sent to the Peruvian government to tell them 
what had happened, and to see what they said about 
it. And when they heard the news, they were a 
good deal more than satisfied,— as they ought to have 
been, I’m sure,— and they made no bones about the 
share we took. All they wanted was to have their 
part sent to them just as soon as could be, and I don’t 
wonder at it, for all those South American countries 
are as poor as beggars, and if any one of them got a 
sum of money like that, it could buy up all the others, 
if it felt like spending the money in that way ! 

179 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


“ Those Peruvians were in such a hurry to get the 
treasure that they wouldn’t agree to have the gold 
coined into money, or to he sent a part at a time, or 
to take drafts for it, but they wanted it just as it was, 
as soon as they could get it, and as it was their own, 
nobody could hinder them from doing what they 
pleased with it. Shirley and I have made up our 
minds that most likely the present government 
thought that they wouldn’t be in office when the 
money arrived if they didn’t have it on hand in 
pretty short order, and, of course, if they got their 
fingers on that treasure, they could stay in power as 
long as they pleased. 

“It is hard to believe that any government could be 
such fools— for they ordered it all shipped on an 
ordinary merchant vessel, an English steamer, the 
JDwikery Beacon , which was pretty nigh ready to sail 
for Lima. Now, any other government in this world 
would have sent a man-of-war for that gold, or some 
sort of an armed vessel to convoy it, but that wasn’t 
the way with the Peruvians ! They wanted their 
money, and they wanted it by the first steamer which 
could be got ready to sail. They weren’t going to 
wait until they got one of their cruisers over to Eng- 
land— not they ! 

“The quickest way, of course, would have been to 
ship it to Aspinwall, and then take it by rail to 
Panama, and from there ship it to Lima. But I sup- 
pose they were afraid to do that. If that sort of 
freight had been carried overland, they couldn’t have 
hindered people from finding out what it was, and 
pretty nearly everybody in Central America would 
have turned train-robber. Anyway, the agents over 
180 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


there got the Dunlcery Beacon to sail a little before 
her regular time. 

“Now here comes the point ! They actually shipped 
a hundred and sixty million dollars’ worth of pure 
gold on a merchant steamer that was going on a regu- 
lar voyage, and would actually touch at Jamaica and 
Rio Janeiro on account of her other freight, instead 
of buying her outright, or sending her on the straight- 
est cruise she could make for Lima ! Just think of 
that ! More than that, this business was so talked 
about by the Peruvian agents, while they were trying 
to get the earliest steamer possible for it, that it was 
heard of in a good many more ports than one ! 

“Well, this steamer, with all the gold on board, sailed 
just as soon as it could, and the very next day our 
London bankers got a telegram from Paris, from the 
head of a detective bureau there, to tell them that 
no less than three vessels were fitting out in the big- 
gest kind of hurry to go after that slow merchant 
steamer with the millions on board ! ” 

Mrs. Cliff and Willy uttered a simultaneous cry of 
horror. “Do you mean they’re pirates, and are going 
to steal the gold? ” cried Mrs. Cliff. 

“Of course they are!” continued Burke. “And I 
don’t wonder at it ! Why, I don’t believe such a 
cargo of gold ever left a port since the beginning 
of the world ! Such a thing as that is enough to 
tempt anybody with the smallest streak of rascal 
blood in him, and who could get hold of a ship ! 

“Well, these three vessels were fitting out hard as 
they could — two in France, at Toulon and Marseilles, 
and one in Genoa ; and although the detectives were 
almost positive what their business was, they were 
181 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


not sure that they could get proof enough to stop 
them. If the Dunlcery Beacon had been going on a 
straight voyage, even to Rio Janeiro, she might have 
got away from them, but, you see, she was goin’ to 
touch at Jamaica ! 

“And now, now,— this very minute,— that slow old 
steamer and those three pirates are on the Atlantic 
Ocean together ! Why, it makes your blood creep to 
think of it ! ” 

“Indeed, it does ! It’s awful ! ” cried Mrs. Cliff. 
“And what are the London people going to do? ” 

“ They’re not going to do anything, so far as I 
know ! ” said Burke. “If they could get through 
with the red-tape business necessary to send any sort 
of a cruiser or war- vessel after the Dunlcery Beacon to 
protect her,— and I’m not sure that they could do it 
at all,— it would be a precious long time before such 
a vessel would leave the English Channel ! But I 
don’t think that they’ll try anything of the sort. All I 
know is that the London people sent a cable message 
to Captain Horn. I suppose that they thought he 
ought to know what was likely to happen, con- 
siderin’ that he was the head man in the whole 
business ! ” 

“And what did the captain do?” cried Mrs. Cliff. 
“What could he do?” 

“I don’t know,” answered Burke. “I expect he did 
everything that could be done in the way of sending 
messages, and, among other things, he sent that tele- 
gram, about a thousand words, more or less, to Shirley. 
He might have telegraphed to me, perhaps, but he 
didn’t know my address, as I was wandering around. 

182 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


But Shirley, you know, is a fixture in his shipyard, 
and so he sent it to him ! ” 

“I haven’t a doubt,” said Mrs. Cliff, “that he would 
have telegraphed to you if he had known where you 
were.” 

“I hope so,” said Burke. “And when he had told 
Shirley all that had happened, he asked him to pull 
up stakes, and sail by the first steamer he could catch 
for Jamaica. There was a chance that he might get 
there before the Dunkery Beacon arrived, or while she 
was in port, and then he could tell everything to make 
her captain understand that he needn’t be afraid to 
lose anything on account of his ship stopping in 
Kingston harbor until arrangements could be made 
for his carrying his gold in safety to Lima. Captain 
Horn didn’t think that the pirates would try to do 
anything before the Dunkery Beacon left Kingston. 
They would just follow her until she got into the 
South Atlantic, and then board her, most likely ! 

“Captain Horn said that he was going to Jamaica, 
too, but as he didn’t know how soon he would be able 
to sail from Yera Cruz, he wanted Shirley to go ahead 
without losing a minute. And then Shirley he tele- 
graphed to me up at Plainton,— thinking I was there 
and that I ought to know all about it,— and the women 
at my house took so long forwarding it that I did not 
get it until yesterday evening, and then I rushed 
around to where Shirley was staying, and got there 
just in time to catch him, for the next steamer to 
Jamaica sailed early this morning. But he had plenty 
of time to tell me everything. 

“The minute he got the captain’s telegram, he just 
183 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


dropped everything and started for New York. And 
I can tell you, Mrs. Cliff, I’d have done the same, for 
I don’t know what I wouldn’t do to get the chance to 
see Captain Horn again ! ” 

“And yon wanted to go with Mr. Shirley?” said 
Mrs. Cliff, with an eager light in her eyes. 

“Indeed, I did ! ” said Burke. “But, of course, I 
wouldn’t think of such a thing as going off and leaving 
you here with that yacht on your hands, and no know- 
ing what you would do with the people on board, and 
everything else ! So I saw Shirley off about seven 
o’clock this morning, and then I came to report to 
you.” 

“That was too much to expect, Mr. Burke,” said 
Mrs. Cliff, “but it was just like you, and I shall never 
forget it ! But now, tell me one thing : is Mrs. Horn 
going to Jamaica with the captain?” 

“I don’t know,” said Burke, “but, of course, she 
must be— he wouldn’t leave her alone in Mexico ! ” 
“Of course she is ! ” cried Mrs. Cliff. “And Mr. 
Shirley will see them ! And oh, Mr. Burke, why 
can’t we see them? Of all things in the world, I want 
to see Edna, and the captain, too ! And why can’t we 
go straight to Jamaica in the Summer Shelter , instead 
of going anywhere else? We may get there before 
they all leave. Don’t you think we could do that? ” 

The eyes of Captain Burke fairly blazed. “Do it ! ” 
he cried, springing to his feet. “I believe we can do 
it. At any rate, we can try ! The same to you, madam, 
I would do anything in the world to see Captain Horn, 
and nobody knows when we will have the chance ! 
Well, madam, it’s all the plainest kind of sailing. We 
can get off at daylight to-morrow morning, and if that 
184 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


yacht sails as they told me she sails, I believe we may 
overhaul Shirley, and perhaps we will get to King- 
ston before any of them ! And now I’ve got to bounce 
around, for there’s a good deal to be done before night- 
fall!” 

“But what about the Synod?” asked Willy Croup. 

“Bless my soul ! ” exclaimed Mr. Burke, stopping 
suddenly on his way to the door. “I forgot the 
Synod.” 

Mrs. Cliff hesitated for a moment. “I don’t think 
it need make any difference ! It would be a great 
shame to disappoint all those good men. Why couldn’t 
we take them along, all the same? Their weight 
wouldn’t make the yacht go any slower, would it, Mr. 
Burke ? ” 

“Not a bit of it ! ” said he. “But they may not 
want to go so far. Besides, if we find the captain at 
Kingston, we mayn’t feel like going back in a hurry. 
I’ll tell you what we could do, Mrs. Cliff! We 
wouldn’t lose any time worth speaking of if we 
touched at Nassau— that’s in the Bahamas, and a jolly 
place to go to. Then we might discharge our cargo of 
ministers, and if you paid their board until the next 
steamer sailed for New York, and their passage home, 
I should think they would be just as well satisfied as 
if they came back with us ! ” 

Mrs. Cliff reflected. “That’s true ! ” said she, pres- 
ently. “I can explain the case to them, and I don’t 
see why they should not be satisfied. And as for me, 
nobody could be more willing than I am to give pleas- 
ure to those ministers, but I don’t believe that I could 
give up seeing Edna and Captain Horn for the sake of 
any members of any Synod ! ” 

185 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


“All right, madam ! ” cried the impatient Burke. 
“You settle the matter with the parsons,— and I 
haven’t a doubt you can make it all right,— and I’ll 
be off ! Everything has got to be on board to-night. 
I’ll come after you early this evening.” With this he 
departed. 

When Mr. Burke had gone, Mrs. Cliff, very much 
excited by what she had heard, and by the thought of 
what she was going to do, told Willy that she could 
go on with the packing, while she herself went over to 
the church in Brooklyn and explained matters to the 
members of the Synod who intended to go with her, 
and gave them a chance to decide whether or not the 
plan proposed by Mr. Burke would suit them. 

She carried out this intention, and drove to Brooklyn 
in a carriage, but having been delayed by many things 
which Willy wanted to know about the packing, and 
having forgotten in what street the church was situ- 
ated, she lost a good deal of time, and when she 
reached her destination she found that the Synod had 
adjourned sine die. 

Mrs. Cliff sighed. It was a great pity to have taken 
so much trouble, especially when time was so precious, 
but she had done what she could. It would be im- 
possible for her to find the members in their tem- 
porary places of abode, and the only thing she could 
do now was to tell them the change in her plans when 
they came on board that evening, and then, if they 
did not care to sail with her, they would have plenty 
of time to go on shore again. 


186 


CHAPTEE XXII 


THE “SUMMER SHELTER” GOES TO SEA 

Mr. Burke did not arrive to escort Mrs. Cliff and 
Willy Croup to the yacht until nearly nine o’clock in 
the evening. They had sent their baggage to the 
vessel in the afternoon, and had now been expecting 
him, with great impatience, for nearly an hour. But 
when Mr. Burke arrived, it was impossible to find 
fault with him, for he had been busy, he said, every 
minute of the day. 

He had made up a full crew. He had a good sailing- 
master, and the first mate who had been on the yacht 
before. Everything that he could think of in the way 
of provisions and stores was on board, and there was 
nothing to prevent their getting out of the harbor 
early in the morning. 

When Mrs. Cliff stepped on board her yacht, the 
Summer Shelter , her first thought was directed to- 
ward her guests of the Synod $ and when the mate, 
Mr. Burdette, had advanced and been introduced to 
her, she asked him if any of the clergymen had yet 
appeared. 

“They’re all aboard, madam,” said he,— “fourteen 
of them ! They came aboard about seven o’clock, and 
187 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


they stayed in the saloon until about half-past nine, 
and one of them came to me and said that, as they 
were very tired, they thought they’d go to bed, think- 
ing, most likely, as it was then so late, you wouldn’t 
come aboard until morning. So the steward showed 
them their state-rooms, and we had to get one more 
ready than we expected to, and they’re now all fast 
asleep ; but I suppose I could arouse some of them up, 
if you want to see them ! ” 

Mrs. Cliff turned to Burke with an expression of 
despair on her face. “ What in the world shall I do ? ” 
said she. “I wanted to tell them all about it, and let 
them decide ; but it would be horrible to make any of 
them who didn’t care to go get up and dress, and go 
out into this damp night air to look for a hotel ! ” 

“Well,” said Burke, “all that’s going ashore has got 
to go ashore to-night. We’ll sail as soon as it is day- 
light! If I was you, Mrs. Cliff, I wouldn’t bother 
about them. You invited them to go to the Bahamas, 
and you’re going to take them there, and you’re going 
to send them back the best way you can, and I’m 
willing to bet a clipper ship against your yacht that 
they will be just as well satisfied to come back in a 
regular steamer as to come back in this ! You might 
offer to send them over to Savannah, and let them 
come up by rail. They might like that for a change. 
The way the thing looks to me, madam, you’re pro- 
posing to give them a good deal more than you 
promised.” 

“Well,” said Mrs. Cliff, “one thing is certain : I’m 
not going to turn any of them out of their warm beds 
this night, and we might as well go to our rooms, for 
it must be a good deal after ten.” 

188 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


When Willy Croup beheld her little state-room, she 
stood at the door and looked in at it with rapture. 
She had a beautiful chamber in Mrs. Cliff’s new house, 
fully and elegantly furnished, but there was something 
about this little bit of a bedroom, with all its nautical 
conveniences, its hooks and shelves and racks, its dear 
little window, and its two pretty berths,— each just 
big enough and not a bit too big,— which charmed her 
as no room she had ever seen had charmed her. 

The Summer Shelter must have started, Mrs. Cliff 
thought, before daylight the next morning, for when 
she was awakened by the motion of the engine it was 
not light enough to distinguish objects in the room. 
But she lay quietly in her berth, and let her proud 
thoughts mount high and spread wide. As far as the 
possession of wealth and the sense of power could ele- 
vate the soul of woman, it now elevated the soul of 
Mrs. Cliff. 

This was her own ship which was going out upon 
the ocean ! This was her engine which was making 
everything shake and tremble ! The great screw 
which was dashing the water at the stern and forcing 
the vessel through the waves belonged to her ! Every- 
thing— the smoke-stacks, the tall masts, the nautical 
instruments— was her property ! The crew, the 
stewards, and the engineers, were all in her service ! 
She was going to the beautiful island of the sunny 
tropics because she herself had chosen to go there ! 

It was with great satisfaction, too, that she thought 
of the cost of all this. A great deal of money had 
been paid for that yacht, and it had relieved, as 
scarcely any other expenditure she would be likely to 
make could have relieved, the strain upon her mind 
189 


MRS. CLIFF’S YACHT 


occasioned by the pressure of her income. Even after 
the building of her new apartments, her money had 
been getting the better of her. How she felt that she 
was getting the better of her money. 

By the way the yacht rolled and, at the same time, 
pitched and tossed, Mrs. Cliff thought it likely that 
they must be out upon the open sea, or, at least, well 
down the outer bay. She liked the motion, and the 
feeling that her property, moving according to her 
will, was riding dominant over the waves of the sea, 
sent a genial glow through every vein. It was now 
quite light, and when Mrs. Cliff got up and looked 
out of her round window, she could see, far away to 
the right, the towering lighthouses of Sandy Hook. 

About eight o’clock she dressed and went out on 
deck. She was proud of her good sailing qualities. 
As she went up the companionway, holding firmly to 
the bright brass rail, she felt no more fear of falling 
than if she had been one of the crew. When she came 
out on the upper deck, she had scarcely time to look 
about her when a man, whom at first sight she took 
to be a stranger, came forward with outstretched hand. 
But in an instant she saw it was not a stranger. It 
was Captain Burke, but not as she had ever seen him 
before. He was dressed in a complete suit of white 
duck with gold buttons, and he wore a white cap 
trimmed with gold— an attire so different from his 
high silk hat and the furs that it was no wonder that 
at first she did not recognize their wearer. 

“Why, Captain Burke,” she cried, “I didn’t know 
you ! ” 

“Ho wonder,” said he. “This is a considerable 
change from my ordinary toggery. But it’s the uni- 
190 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


form of a captain of a yacht. You see, that’s different 
from what it would be if I commanded a merchant 
vessel, or a liner, or a man-of-war ! ” 

“It looks awfully cool for such weather,” said she. 

“Yes,” said the captain, “but it’s the proper thing ; 
and yachts, you know, generally cruise around in 
warmish weather. However, we’re getting south as 
fast as we can. I tell you, madam, this yacht is a 
good one ! We’ve just cast the log, and she’s doing 
better than fourteen knots an hour, and we haven’t 
got full steam on, either ! It seems funny, madam, 
for me to command a steamer, but I’ll get used to it 
in no time. If it was a sailin’ -vessel, it wouldn’t be 
anything out of the way, because I’ve studied naviga- 
tion, and I know more about a ship than many a 
skipper. But a steam-yacht is different ! However, 
I’ve got men under me who know how to do what I 
order them to do, and, if necessary, they’re ready to 
tell me what I ought to order ! ” 

“I don’t believe there could be a better captain,” 
said Mrs. Cliff, “and I do hope you won’t take cold ! 
And now I want to see the ministers as soon as they 
are ready. I think it will be well for me to receive 
them up here. I am not sure that I remember prop- 
erly the names of all of them, but I shall not hesitate 
to ask them, and then I shall present each one of them 
to you. It will be a sort of a reception, you know ! 
After that we can all go on pleasantly like one family. 
We will have to have a pretty big table in the saloon, 
but I suppose we can manage that.” 

“Oh, yes,” said Mr. Burke. “And now I’ll see the 
steward, and tell him to let the parsons know that 
you’re ready to receive them.” 

191 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


About a quarter of an hour after this the steward 
appeared on deck, and, approaching Mrs. Cliff and the 
captain, touched his hat. “Come to report, sir,” said 
he, “the ministers are all seasick ! There ain’t none 
of them wants to get out of their berths, but some of 
them want tea.” 

Mrs. Cliff and the captain could not help laughing, al- 
though the former declared it was not a laughing matter. 

“But it isn’t surprising,” said the captain. “It’s 
pretty rough, and I suppose they’re all thoroughbred 
landsmen. But they’ll get over it before long, and 
when they come on deck it’s likely it will be pleas- 
anter weather. We’re having a considerable blow 
just now, and it will be worse when we get farther 
out. So I should say that you and Miss Croup and 
myself had better have our breakfast.” 

The steward was still standing by, and he touched 
his hat again, this time to Mrs. Cliff. 

“The other lady is very seasick. I heard her 
groaning fearfully as I passed her door.” 

“Oh, I must go down to Willy,” said Mrs. Cliff. 
“And, captain, you and I will have to breakfast 
together.” 

As Mrs. Cliff opened the door of Willy Croup’s 
state-room, a pale, white face in the lower berth was 
turned toward her, and a weak and trembling voice 
said to her : “Oh, Sarah, you have come at last ! Is 
there any way of getting me out of this horrible little 
hole ? ” 

For two days Mrs. Cliff and Captain Burke break- 
fasted, dined, and supped by themselves. They had 
head winds, and the sea was very rough, and although 
the yacht did not make the time that might have 
192 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


been expected of her in fair weather, she did very 
well, and Burke was satisfied. The two stewards 
were kept very busy with the prostrate and dejected 
members of the Synod, and Mrs. Cliff and the steward- 
ess devoted their best efforts to the alleviation of the 
woes of Willy, which they were glad to see were daily 
dwindling. 

They had rounded Cape Hatteras. The sea was 
smoother, the cold wind had gone down, and Willy 
Croup, warmly wrapped up, was sitting in a steamer- 
chair on deck. The desire that she might suddenly 
be transferred to Plainton or to heaven was gradually 
fading out of her mind, and the blue sky, the distant 
waves, and the thought of the approaching meal were 
exercising a somewhat pleasurable influence upon her 
dreamy feeling, when Captain Burke, who stood near 
with a telescope, announced that the steamer over 
there on the horizon line was heading south, and that 
he had a notion she was the Antonina , the vessel on 
which Shirley had sailed. 

“I believed that we could overhaul her ! ” said he 
to Mrs. Cliff. “I didn’t know much about her sailing 
qualities, but I had no reason to believe she has the 
speed of this yacht, and as we’re on the same course, 
I thought it likely we would sight her, and, what’s 
more, pass her. We’ll change our course a little, so 
that we will be closer to her when we pass.” 

Mrs. Cliff, who had taken the glass, but could not 
see through it very well, returned it to the captain, 
and remarked : “If we can go so much faster than she 
does, why can’t we take Mr. Shirley on board when 
we catch up to her f ” 

“I don’t know about that,” said Burke. “To do 
193 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


that, both vessels would have to lay to and lose time, 
and she might not want to do it, as she’s a regular 
steamer, and carries the mail. And besides, if Shir- 
ley’s under orders— that is, the same thing as orders 
—to go straight to Jamaica, I don’t know that we 
have any right to take him off his steamer and carry 
him to Nassau. Of course, he might get to Jamaica 
just as soon, and perhaps sooner, if he sailed with us, 
but we don’t know it. We may be delayed in some 
way ; there’re lots of things that might happen, and, 
anyway, I don’t believe in interfering with orders, 
and I know Shirley doesn’t, either. I believe he 
would want to keep on. Besides, we don’t really 
know yet that that’s the Antonina .” 

A couple of hours, however, proved that Captain 
Burke’s surmise had been correct, and it was not long 
before the two vessels were abreast of each other. 
The yacht had put on all steam, and had proved her- 
self capable of lively speed. As the two vessels ap- 
proached within hailing distance, Captain Burke went 
up on the little bridge, with a speaking-trumpet, and 
it was not long before Shirley was on the bridge of 
the other steamer, with another trumpet. 

To the roaring conversation which now took place, 
everybody on each vessel who was not too sick, who had 
no duties, or who could be spared from them, listened 
with the most lively interest. A colloquy upon the 
lonely sea between two persons, one upon one vessel 
and the other upon another, must always be an inci- 
dent of absorbing importance. 

Very naturally Shirley was amazed to find it was 
his friend Burke who was roaring at him, and de- 
lighted when he was informed that the yacht was also 
194 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


on its way to Jamaica to meet Captain Horn. After 
a quarter of an hour of high-sounding talk, during 
which Shirley was informed of Burke’s intention to 
touch at Nassau, the interview terminated. The Sum- 
mer Shelter shaping her course a little more to the 
south, by nightfall the Antonina had faded out of sight 
on the northeast horizon. 

“I shouldn’t wonder,” said Captain Burke, at dinner, 
“if we got to Jamaica before her anyway, although 
we’re bound to lose time in the harbor at Nassau.” 

The company at the dinner-table was larger than it 
had yet been. Five members of the Synod had ap- 
peared on deck during the speaking-trumpet conver- 
sation, and feeling well enough to stay there, had been 
warmly greeted and congratulated by Mrs. Cliff. The 
idea of a formal reception had, of course, been given 
up, and there was no need of presenting these gentle- 
men to the captain, for he had previously visited all 
of his clerical passengers in their berths, and was thus 
qualified to present them to Mrs. Cliff as fast as they 
should make their appearance. At dinner-time two 
more came into the saloon, and the next morning at 
breakfast the delegation from the Synod were all pres- 
ent, with the exception of two whose minds were not 
yet quite capable of properly appreciating the subject 
of nutrition. 

When at last the Summer Shelter found herself in 
the smoother waters and the warmer air of the Gulf 
Stream, when the nautilus spread its gay-colored sail 
in the sunlight by the side of the yacht, when the 
porpoises flashed their shining black bodies out of 
the water and plunged in again as they raced with 
the swiftly moving vessel, when great flocks of flying- 
195 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


fish would rise into the air, skim high above the 
water, and then all fall back again with a patter as of 
big raindrops, and the people on the deck of the 
Summer Shelter took off their heavy wraps and unbut- 
toned their coats, it was a happy company which sailed 
with Mrs. Cliff among the beautiful isles of the West 
Indies. 


196 


CHAPTER XXIII 

WILLY CROUP COMES TO THE FRONT 

The pleasant rays of the semi-tropical sun so warmed 
and subsequently melted the varied dispositions of 
the company on board the Summer Shelter that, in spite 
of their very different natures, they became fused, as 
it were, into a happy party of friends. 

Willy Croup actually felt as if she were a young 
woman in a large party of gentlemen, with no rivals. 
She was not young, but many of her youthful qualities 
still remained with her, and under the influence of 
her surroundings they all budded out and blossomed 
bravely. At the end of a day of fine weather there 
was not a clergyman on board who did not wish that 
Miss Croup belonged to his congregation. 

As for the members of the Synod, there could be no 
doubt that they were thoroughly enjoying themselves. 
Tired with the long winter’s work, and rejoiced, al- 
most amazed, to be so suddenly freed from the cold 
wintry weather of their homes, all of their spirits rose, 
and most of their hearts were merry. 

There were but few gray heads among these clergy- 
men, and the majority of them were under middle age. 
Some of them had been almost strangers to each other 
when they came on board, but now there were no 
197 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


strangers on the Summer Shelter. Some of them had 
crossed the Atlantic, but not one had ever taken a 
coastwise voyage on a comparatively small vessel, and 
although the consequence of this new experience, their 
involuntary seclusion during the first days of the trip, 
and their consequent unconventional and irregular 
acceptance of Mrs. Cliffs hospitality, had caused a little 
stiffness in their demeanor at first, this speedily disap- 
peared, hand in hand with the recollection of that 
most easily forgotten of human ills which had so rudely 
interfered with their good manners. 

As far as the resources of their portmanteaus would 
allow, these reverend clergymen dressed themselves 
simply and in semi-nautical costumes. Borne played 
quoits upon the upper deck, in which sport Willy 
joined. Others climbed up the shrouds, preferably on 
the inside— this method of exercise, although very 
difficult, being considered safer in case of a sudden 
lurch of the vessel. And the many other sportive 
things they did, and the many pleasant anecdotes 
they told, nearly all relating to the discomfiture of 
clergymen under various embarrassing circumstances, 
caused Captain Burke to say to Mrs. Cliff that he had 
never imagined that parsons were such jolly fellows, 
and, so far as he was concerned, he would be glad to 
take out another party of them. 

“But if we do / 7 he said, “I think we 7 d better ship 
them on a tug and let them cruise around the light- 
ship for two or three days. Then, when they hoisted 
a signal that they were all well on board, we could go 
out and take them off. In that way. you see, they 7 d 
really enjoy a cruise on the Summer Shelter” 

As the sun went down behind the distant coast of 
198 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


Florida, they were boarded by a negro pilot, and in the 
morning they awoke to find themselves fast to a pier ot 
the city of Nassau, lying white in the early daylight. 

The members of the Synod had readily agreed to 
Mrs. ClifFs plan to leave them at Nassau and let them 
return by a regular passenger steamer, and they all 
preferred to go by sea to Savannah and then to their 
homes by rail. With expenses paid, none but the 
most unreasonable of men could have objected to such 
a plan. 

As Captain Burke announced that he would stop at 
Nassau for a day to take in some fresh stores, espe- 
cially of fruit and vegetables, and to give Mrs. Cliif 
and Willy Croup an opportunity to see the place, the 
Summer Shelter was soon deserted. But in the evening 
everybody returned on board, as the company wished 
to keep together as long as possible, and there would 
be plenty of time in the morning for the members of 
the Synod to disembark and go to the hotel. 

Very early in the morning, Captain Burke was 
aroused by the entrance of the sailing-master, Mr. 
Portman, into his state-room. u ’Morning, sir,” said 
Mr. Portman. “I want you to come out here and look 
at something ! ” 

Perceiving by the manner and tones of the other 
that there was something important to be looked at, 
Captain Burke jumped up, quickly dressed himself, 
and went out on deck. There, fastened against the 
foremast, was a large piece of paper on which were 
written these words : 

“We don’t intend to sail on a filibustering cruise. We 
know what it means when you take on arms in New 
York, and discharge your respectable passengers in 

199 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


Nassau. We don’t want nothing to do with your next 
lot of passengers, and don’t intend to get into no scrapes. 
So good-by ! The Crew. ’ ’ 

“You don’t mean to say/’ cried Burke, “that the 
crew has deserted the vessel ! ” 

“That’s what it is, sir,” said Mr. Burdette, the first 
mate, who had just joined them. “The crew has 
cleared out, to a man ! Mr. Portman and I are left, 
the engineer’s left, and his assistant— they belonged to 
the yacht, and didn’t have much to do with the crew. 
But the rest’s all gone— deck-hands, stewards, and 
even the cook ! The stewardess must have gone, too, 
for I haven’t seen her.” 

“What’s the meaning of all this?” shouted Burke, 
his face getting very red. “When did they go, and 
why did they go ? ” 

“It’s the second mate’s watch, and he is off with 
them,” said Mr. Burdette. “I expect he’s at the 
bottom of it. He’s a mighty wary fellow. Just as 
like as not, he spread the report that we were going 
on a filibustering expedition to Cuba, and the ground 
for it, in my opinion, is those cases of arms you opened 
the other day.” 

“I think that is it, sir,” said Mr. Portman. “You 
know, there’s a rising in Cuba, and there was lots of 
talk about filibustering before we left. I expect the 
people thought that the ladies were going on shore 
the same as the parsons.” 

Burke was confounded. He knew not what to say 
or what to think, but seeing Mrs. Cliff appearing at 
the head of the companionway, he thought it his first 
duty to go and report the state of affairs to her, which 
200 


MRS. CLIFF’S YACHT 

he did. That lady’s astonishment and dismay were 
very great. 

“What are we going to do?” she asked. “And 
what do you mean by the cases of arms ? ” 

“I’m afraid that was a piece of folly on my part/’ 
said Burke. 

“I didn’t know we had arms on board ! ” 

“Well> what we have don’t amount to much/’ said 
Burke. “But this was the way of it. After I heard 
the message from Captain Horn about the pirates, and 
everything, and as I didn’t know exactly what sort of 
craft we would meet round about Jamaica, I thought 
we would feel a good deal safer, especially on account 
of you and Miss Croup, if we had some firearms 
aboard. So I put in some repeating rifles and ammu- 
nition, and I paid for them out of my own pocket. 
Such things always come in useful, and while I was 
commanding the vessel on which you were sailing, 
Mrs. Cliff, I didn’t want to feel that I’d left anything 
undone which ought to be done. Of course, there 
was no reason to suppose that we would ever have to 
use them, but I knew I would feel better if I had 
them. But there was one thing I needn’t have done, 
and that was, I needn’t have opened them, which I 
did the other day, in company with Mr. Burdette, 
because I hadn’t had time before to examine them, 
and I wanted to see what they were. Some of the 
crew must have noticed the guns, and as they couldn’t 
think why we wanted them, unless we were going on 
a filibustering expedition, they got that notion into 
their heads, and so cut the ship. It was easy enough 
to do it, for we were moored to a pier, ana the second 
201 


MRS. CLIFF’S YACHT 


mate, whose watch they went away in, was most likely 
at the head of the whole business ! ” 

“But what are we going to do? ” asked Mrs. Cliff. 
“I must get another crew just as soon as I can / 7 said 
he, “and there isn’t a minute to be lost! I was 
stretching a point when I agreed to stop over a day, 
but I thought we could afford that and reach King- 
ston as soon as Shirley does. When he gets there 
with his message to the captain of the Durikery Beacon 
I want to be on hand. There’s no knowing what will 
have to be done, or what will have to be said. I don’t 
want Shirley to think that he’s got nobody to stand 
by him ! ” 

“Indeed,” said Mrs. Cliff, “we ought to lose no time, 
for Captain Horn may be there. It is a most dreadful 
misfortune to lose the crew this way ! Can’t you find 
them again ? Can’t you make them come back ? ” 

“If they don’t want to be found,” said Burke, “it 
will take a good while to find them. But I’m going 
on shore this minute, and I wish you would be good 
enough to tell Miss Croup and the ministers how 
matters stand.” 

The news of the desertion of the crew, when told by 
Mrs. Cliff to those of the passengers who had come on 
deck, and speedily communicated by these to their 
companions, created a great sensation. Willy Croup 
was so affected that she began to cry. “Is there any 
danger ? ” she said, “and hadn’t we better go on shore ? 
Suppose some other vessel wanted to come up to this 
wharf, and we had to move away— there’s nobody to 
move us ! And suppose we were to get loose in some 
way— there’s nobody to stop us ! ” 

“You are very practical, Miss Croup,” remarked the 
202 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


Rev. Mr. Hodgson, the youngest clergyman on board. 
“But I am sure you need not have the least fear. 
We are moored firm and fast, and I have no doubt 
Captain Burke will soon arrive with the necessary 
men to take you to Jamaica.” 

Willy dried her eyes, and then she said : “There’s 
another practical thing I’m thinking of— there isn’t 
any breakfast, and the cook’s gone ! But I believe we 
can arrange that. I could cook the breakfast myself 
if I had anybody to help me. I’ll go speak to Mrs. 
Cliff.” 

Mrs. Cliff was decidedly of the opinion that they all 
ought to have breakfast, and that she and Willy could 
at least make coffee, and serve the passengers with 
bread and butter and preserved meats, but she re- 
marked to Mr. Hodgson that perhaps the gentlemen 
would rather go to their hotels and get their breakfast. 

-“No, indeed,” said Mr. Hodgson, a stout, sun- 
browned fellow, who looked more like a hunter than 
a clergyman. “We have been talking over the matter, 
and we are not going to desert you until the new men 
come. And as to breakfast, here are Mr. Litchfield 
and myself ready to serve as stewards, assistants, 
cooks, or in any culinary capacity. We both have 
camped out and are not green hands. So you must 
let us help you, and we shall consider it good fun.” 

“It will be funny,” said Willy, “to see a minister 
cook ! So let’s go down to the kitchen. I know 
where it is, for I’ve been in it ! ” 

“I think, Miss Croup,” said Mr. Litchfield, a tall 
young man with black hair and side-whiskers, and a 
good deal of manner, “that you should say ‘ galley ’ or 
‘caboose,’ now that we are all nautical together.” 

203 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


“Well, I can’t cook nautical,” said Willy, “and I 
don’t intend to try ! But I guess you can eat the food, 
if it isn’t strictly naval.” 

In a few minutes the volunteer cooks were all at 
work, and Willy’s familiarity with household affairs, 
even when exhibited under the present novel condi- 
tions, shone out brightly. She found some cold boiled 
potatoes, and soon set Mr. Hodgson to work frying 
them. Mrs. Cliff took the coffee in hand with all her 
ante-millionaire skill, and Willy skipped from one 
thing to another, as happy as most people are whose 
ability has suddenly forced them to the front. 

“Oh, you ought to see the Synod setting the table ! ” 
she cried, bursting into the galley. “They’re getting 
things all wrong, but it doesn’t matter, and they seem 
to be enjoying it. Now, then, Mr. Litchfield, I think 
you have cut all the bread that can possibly be eaten.” 

Mr. Burdette had gone on shore with the captain, 
and Mr. Portman considered it his duty to remain on 
deck, but the volunteer corps of cooks and stewards 
did their work with hearty good will, and the break- 
fast would have been the most jolly meal that they 
had yet enjoyed together, if it had not been for the 
uncertainty and uneasiness naturally occasioned by 
the desertion of the crew. 

It was after ten o’clock when Captain Burke and 
Mr. Burdette returned. “We’re in a bad fix,” said 
the former, approaching Mrs. Cliff, who, with all the 
passengers, had been standing together watching them 
come down the pier. “There was a steamer cleared 
from here the day before yesterday which was short- 
handed, and seems to have carried off all the available 
able seamen in the port. But I believe that is all 
204 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


stuff and nonsense ! The real fact seems to be — and 
Mr. Burdette and Bye agreed on that point— that the 
report has got out that we’re filibusters, and nobody 
wants to ship with us ! Everything looks like it, you 
see. Here we come from New York with a regular 
lot of passengers, but we’ve got arms on board, and we 
drop the passengers here and let them go home some 
other way, and we sail on, saying we’re bound for 
Jamaica— for Cuba is a good deal nearer, you know. 
But the worst thing is this, and I’m bound to tell it, 
so that you can all know how the case stands, and take 
care of yourselves as you think best. There’s reason 
to believe that if the government of this place has not 
already had its eye on us, it will have its eye on us 
before very long, and, for my part, I’d give a good deal 
of money to be able to get away before they do. But 
without a crew we can’t do it ! ” 

Mrs. Cliff and Burke now retired to consult. 
“Madam,” said he, “I’m bound to ask you, as owner, 
what do you think we ought to do ? If you take my 
advice, the first thing to be done is to get rid of the 
ministers. You can settle with them about their 
travelling, and let them go to their hotels. Then 
perhaps I can rake up a few loafers, landsmen or 
anybody who can shovel coal or push on a capstan - 
bar, and by offering them double wages get them to 
ship with us. Once in Jamaica, we shall be all 
right.” 

“But don’t you think it will be dangerous,” said 
Mrs. Cliff, “to go around offering extra pay in this 
way?” 

“That may be,” he answered, “but what else is 
there to do ? ” 


205 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


At this moment Mr. Litchfield approached. 
“ Madam / 7 said he, “we have been discussing the 
unfortunate circumstances in which you find yourself 
placed, and we now ask if you have made any plans 
in regard to your future action ? ” 

“The circumstances are truly unfortunate,” replied 
Mrs. Cliff, “for we are anxious to get to Jamaica as 
soon as possible, on account of very important business, 
and I don’t see how we are to do it. We have made 
no plans, except that we feel it will be well for you 
gentlemen to leave us and go to your hotel, where 
you can stay until the steamer will sail for Savannah, 
day after to-morrow. As for ourselves, we don’t know 
what we are going to do— unless, indeed, some sort 
of a vessel may be starting for Jamaica, and in that 
case we could leave the Summer Shelter here and go 
on her.” 

“No,” said Burke, “I thought of that, and in- 
quired. Nothing will sail under a week, and in 
that time everybody we want to see may have left 
Jamaica ! ” 

“Will you excuse me for a few minutes?” said Mr. 
Litchfield, and with that he returned to his com- 
panions. 

“Captain,” said Willy, “won’t you come down and 
have your breakfast ? I don’t believe you have eaten 
a thing, and you look as if you needed it ! ” 

Captain Burke really did look as if he needed a 
good many things— among others, a comb and a brush. 
His gold-trimmed cap was pushed on the back of 
his head, his white coat was unbuttoned and the 
collar turned in, and his countenance was troubled 
by the belief that his want of prudence had brought 
206 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 

Mrs. Cliff and her property into a very serious pre- 
dicament. 

“Thank you / 7 said he, “but I can’t eat. Breakfast 
is the last thing I can think of just now ! ” 

Now approached Mr. Litchfield, followed by all his 
clerical brethren. “Madam,” said he, “we have had 
a final consultation, and have come to make a proposi- 
tion to you and the captain. We do not feel that we 
would be the kind of men we would like to think we 
are if, after all your kindness and great consideration, 
we should step on shore and continue the very de- 
lightful programme you have laid out for us, while 
you are left in doubt, perplexity, and perhaps danger, 
on your yacht. There are five of us who feel that 
they cannot join in the offer which I am about to 
make to you and the captain, but the rest of us wish 
most earnestly and heartily to offer you our services— 
if you think they are worth anything— to work this 
vessel to Jamaica. It is but a trip of a few days, I am 
told, and I have no doubt that we can return to New 
York from Kingston almost as conveniently as we can 
from here. We can all write home and arrange for 
any contingencies which may arise on account of the 
delay in our return. In fact, it will not be difficult 
for most of us to consider this excursion as a part, or 
even the whole, of our annual vacation. Those of us 
who can go with you are all able-bodied fellows, and 
if you say so, captain, we will turn in and go to work 
this moment. We have not any nautical experience, 
but we all have powers of observation, and, so far as I 
am able to judge, I believe I can do most of the things 
I have seen done on this vessel by your common sea- 
men, if that is what you call them.” 

207 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


Mrs. Cliff looked at Captain Burke, and he looked 
at her. “If it was a sailin’ -vessel,” he exclaimed, “I’d 
say she couldn’t he worked by parsons, but a steamer’s 
different ! By George ! madam, let’s take them, and 
get away while we can ! ” 


208 


CHAPTER XXIV 


CHANGES ON THE “SUMMER SHELTER” 

When Captain Burke communicated to Mr. Portman 
and Mr. Burdette the news that nine of their pas- 
sengers had offered to ship as a crew, the sailing- 
master and the first mate shook their heads. They 
did not believe that the vessel could be worked by 
parsons. 

“But there isn’t anybody else !” exclaimed Burke. 
“We’ve got to get away, and they’re all able-bodied, 
and they have more sense than most landsmen we can 
ship. And besides, here are five experienced seamen 
on board, and I say, let’s try the parsons.” 

“All right,” said Mr. Burdette. “If you’re willing 
to risk it, I am.” 

Mr. Portman also said he was willing, and the en- 
gineer and his assistant, who were getting very ner- 
vous, agreed to the plan as soon as they heard of it. 

Captain Burke shook himself, pulled his cap to the 
front of his head, arranged his coat properly and but- 
toned it up, and began to give orders. “Now, then,” 
said he, “all passengers going ashore, please step 
lively ! ” And while this lively stepping was going 
on, and during the leave-taking and rapid writing of 
209 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


notes to be sent to the homes of the clerical crew, he 
ordered Mr. Burdette to secure a pilot, attend to the 
clearance business, and make everything ready to 
cast off and get out of the harbor as soon as possible. 

When the five reverend gentlemen who had decided 
not to accompany the Summer Shelter in her further 
voyaging had departed for the hotel, portmanteaus in 
hand, and amply furnished by Mrs. Cliff with funds 
for their return to their homes, the volunteer crew, 
most of them without coats or waistcoats, and all in a 
high picnic spirit, set to work with enthusiasm, doing 
more things than they knew how to do, and embar- 
rassing Mr. Burdette a good deal by their over-will- 
ingness to make themselves useful. But this untrained 
alacrity was soon toned down, and early in the after- 
noon the hawsers of the Summer Shelter were cast off, 
andshe steamed out of the eastern passage of the harbor. 

There were remarks made in the town after the 
departure of the yacht, but when the passengers who 
had been left behind, all clergymen of high repute, 
had related the facts of the case, and had made it 
understood that the yacht, whose filibustering pur- 
pose had been suspected by its former crew, was now 
manned by nine members of the Synod recently con- 
vened in Brooklyn, and under the personal direction 
of Mrs. Cliff, an elderly and charitable resident of 
Plainton, Maine, all distrust was dropped, and was 
succeeded, in some instances, by the hope that the 
yacht might not be wrecked before it reached Jamaica. 

The pilot left the Summer Shelter. Three of the clergy- 
men shovelled coal, four of them served as deck-hands, 
and two others ran around as assistant cooks and 
stewards ; Mr. Portman and Mr. Burdette lent their 
210 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


hands to things which were not at all in their line of 
duty 5 Mrs. Cliff and Willy pared the vegetables, and 
cooked without ever thinking of stopping to fan them- 
selves ; while Captain Burke flew around like half a 
dozen men, with a good word for everybody, and a 
hand to help wherever needed. It was truly a jolly 
voyage from Nassau to Kingston. 

The new crew was divided into messes, and Mrs. 
Cliff insisted that they should come to the table in the 
saloon, no matter how they looked or what they had 
been doing,— on her vessel a coal-heaver off duty was 
as good as a captain,— while the clergymen good- 
humoredly endeavored to preserve the relative low- 
liness of their positions, each actuated by a zealous 
desire to show what a good deck-hand or steward he 
could make when circumstances demanded it. 

Working hard, laughing much, eating most heartily, 
and sleeping well, the busy and hilarious little party 
on board the Summer Shelter steamed into the harbor 
of Kingston, after a much shorter voyage than is gen- 
erally made from Nassau to that port. 

“If I could get a crew of jolly parsons/ 7 cried Cap- 
tain Burke, “and could give them a month 7 s training 
on board this yacht, I 7 d rather have them than any 
crew that could be got together from Cape Horn to 
the North Pole! 77 

“And by the time you had made able seamen of 
them, 77 said Mr. Burdette, who was of a conventional 
turn of mind, “they 7 d all go back to their pulpits and 
preach ! 77 

“And preach better ! 77 said Mr. Litchfield, who was 
standing by. “Yes, sir, I believe they would all 
preach better ! 77 


211 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


When the anchor was dropped, not quite so 
promptly as it would have been done if the clerical 
crew had had any previous practice in this operation, 
Mr. Burke was about to give orders to lower a boat,— 
for he was anxious to get on shore as soon as possible, 
—when he perceived a large boat, rowed by six men, 
and with a man in the stern, rapidly approaching the 
yacht. If they were port officials, he thought, they 
were extremely prompt, but he soon saw that the 
man in the stern, who stood up and waved a hand- 
kerchief, was his old friend Shirley. 

“He must have been watching for us,” said Captain 
Burke to Mrs. Cliff, “and he put out from one of the 
wharves as soon as we hove in sight. Shirley is a good 
fellow. You can trust to him to look out for his 
friends ! 99 

In a very short time the six powerful negro oars- 
men had Shirley’s boat alongside, and in a few seconds 
after that he stood upon the deck of the Summer 
Shelter . Burke was about to spring forward to greet 
his old comrade, but he stepped back to give way to 
Mrs. Cliff, who seized the hand of Shirley and bade 
him a most hearty welcome, although, had she met 
him by herself elsewhere, she would not have recog- 
nized him in the neat travelling suit which he now 
wore. 

Shirley was delighted to meet Burke and Mrs. Cliff, 
he expressed pleasure in making the acquaintance of 
Miss Croup, who, standing by Mrs. Cliff’s side, was 
quickly introduced, and he looked with astonishment 
at the body of queer-looking men who were gathered 
on the deck, and who appeared to be the crew of the 
yacht. But he wasted no time in friendly greetings 
212 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


nor in asking questions, but quickly informed Burke 
that they were all too late, and that the DunJcery 
Beacon had sailed two days before. 

“And weren’t you here to board her ? ” cried Burke. 

“No,” said Shirley. “Our steamer didn’t arrive 
until last night ! ” 

Burke and Mrs. Cliff looked at each other in dismay. 
Tears began to come into Willy Croup’s eyes, as they 
nearly always did when anything unusual suddenly 
happened. And all the members of the Synod, together 
with Mr. Portman and Mr. Burdette, and even the 
two engineers, who had come up from below, pressed 
close around Shirley, eager to hear what next should 
be said. 

Everybody on board had been informed during the 
trip from Nassau of the errand of the yacht, for Mrs. 
Cliff thought she would be treating those generous 
and kind-hearted clergymen very badly if she did 
not let them know the nature of the good work in 
which they were engaged. And so it had happened 
that everybody who had sailed from Nassau on the 
yacht had hoped— more than that, had even expected, 
for the Bunkery Beacon was known to be a very slow 
steamer— to find her in the harbor of Kingston, taking 
on goods or perhaps coaling, and now all knew that 
even Shirley had been too late. 

“This is dreadful !” exclaimed Mrs. Cliff, who was 
almost on the point of imitating Willy in the matter 
of tears. “And they haven’t any idea, of course, of 
the dangers which await them.” 

“I don’t see how they could know,” said Shirley, 
“for, of course, if they had known, they wouldn’t have 
sailed.” 


213 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


“Did you hear anything about her?” asked Burke. 
“Was she all right when she arrived? ” 

“I have no doubt of that,” was the answer. “I 
made inquiries last night about the people who would 
most likely be consignees here, and this morning I 
went to a house on Harbor Street— Beaver & Hughes. 
This house, in a way, is the Jamaica agent of the 
owners. I got there before the office was open, but I 
didn’t find out much. She had delivered some cargo 
to them, and had sailed on time ! ” 

“By George ! ” cried Burke, “Captain Horn was 
right ! They could hardly get a chance to safely 
interfere with her until she had sailed from Kingston, 
and now I bet they are waiting for her outside the 
Caribbees ! ” 

“That’s just what I thought,” said Shirley, “but, of 
course, I didn’t say anything to these people, and I 
soon found out they didn’t know much, except so far 
as their own business was concerned. It’s pretty 
certain, from what I have heard, that she didn’t find 
any letters here that would make her change her 
course or do anything out of the way. But I did find 
something ! While I was talking with one of the 
heads of the house, the mail from Hew York, which 
had come over in my steamer too late to be delivered 
the night before, was brought in, and one of the let- 
ters was a cable message from London to Kew York, 
to be forwarded by mail to Jamaica, and it was 
directed to ‘Captain Hagar of the Dunkery Beacon , 
care of Beaver & Hughes.’ As I had been asking 
about the steamer, Beaver or Hughes, whichever it 
was, mentioned the message. I told him on the spot 
that I thought it was his duty to open it, for I was 
214 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


very sure it was on important business. He con- 
sidered for a while, saying that perhaps the proper 
thing was to send it on after Captain Hagar by mail ; 
but when he had thought about it a little, he said per- 
haps he had better open it, and he did. The words 
were just these : 

“ ‘ On no account leave Kingston harbor until further 
orders. Blackburn. ’ 

“ Blackburn is the head owner.” 

“What did you say then 1 ?” asked Mrs. Cliff,, very 
earnestly, “and what did he say?” 

“I didn’t say anything about her being a treasure- 
ship,” replied Shirley. “If it was not known in 
Jamaica that she was carrying that gold, I wasn’t 
going to tell it, for there are as many black-hearted 
scoundrels here as in any other part of the world ! 
But I told the Beaver & Hughes people that I also 
had a message for Captain Hagar, and that a friend of 
mine was coming to Kingston in a yacht, and that if 
he arrived soon I hadn’t a doubt that we could over- 
haul the DunJcery Beacon , and give the captain my 
message and the one from London besides, and that 
we’d try to do it, for it was very important. But they 
didn’t know me, and they said they would wait until 
my friend’s yacht should arrive, and then they would 
see about sending the message to Captain Hagar. 
Kow, I’ve done enough talking, and we must do some- 
thing ! ” 

“What do you think we ought to do?” asked 
Eurke. 

“Well, I say,” answered Shirley, “if you have any 
passengers to put ashore here, put them ashore, and 
215 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


then let’s go after the Dunkery Beacon and deliver the 
message. A stern chase is a long chase, but if I’m to 
judge by the way this yacht caught up to the Antonina 
and passed her, I believe there’s a good chance of over- 
hauling the Dunkery Beacon before the pirates get hold 
of her. Then all she’s got to do is to steam back to 
Kingston.” 

“But suppose the pirates come before she gets 
back?” said Mrs. Cliff. 

“Well, they won’t fool with her if she is in com- 
pany,” replied Shirley. “How, and what do you 
say?” he asked, addressing Burke, but glancing 
around at the others. “I don’t know how this ship’s 
company is made up, or how long a stop you are 
thinking of making here, or anything about it ! But 
you’re the owner, Mrs. Cliff, and if you lend Burke 
and me your yacht, I reckon he’ll be ready enough to 
steam after the Dunkery Beacon and deliver the mes- 
sages. It’s a thing which Captain Horn has set his 
heart upon, and it’s a thing which ought to be done if 
it can be done, and this yacht, I believe, is the vessel 
that can do it ! ” 

During this speech Mr. Burke, generally so eager to 
speak and to act, had stood silent and troubled. He 
agreed with Shirley that the thing to do was to go 
after the Dunkery Beacon at the best speed the yacht 
could make. He did not believe that Mrs. Cliff would 
object to his sailing away with her yacht on this most 
important errand, but he remembered that he had no 
crew. These parsons must be put off at Kingston, and 
although he had had no doubt whatever that he could 
get a crew in this port, he had expected to have a 
week, and perhaps more, in which to do it. To col- 
216 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


lect in an hour or two a crew which he could trust 
with the knowledge, which would most likely come to 
them in some way or other, that the steamer they were 
chasing carried untold wealth, was hardly to he 
thought of. 

“A s far as I am concerned, 77 cried Mrs. Cliff, “my 
yacht may go after that steamer just as soon as she 
can he started away ! 77 

“And what do you say, Burke? 77 exclaimed Shirley. 

Burke did not answer. He was trying to decide 
whether or not he and Shirley, with Burdette and 
Portman and the two engineers, could work the yacht. 
But before he had even a chance to speak, Mr. Hodg- 
son stepped forward and exclaimed : 

“I 7 11 stick to the yacht until she has accomplished 
her business ! I 7 d just as soon make my vacation a 
week longer as not. I can cut it off somewhere else. 
If you are thinking about your crew, captain, I want to 
say that, so far as I am concerned, I am one volunteer ! 77 

“And I am another ! 77 said Mr. Litchfield. “Now 
that I know how absolutely essential it is that the 
JDunkery Beacon should be overtaken, I would not for 
a moment even consider the surrender of my position 
upon this vessel, which I assure you, madam, I con- 
sider as an honor ! 77 

Mr. Shirley stared in amazement at the speaker. 
What sort of a seaman was this ? His face and hands 
were dirty, for he had been shovelling coal, but such 
speech Shirley had never heard from mariner 7 s lips. 
The rest of the crew seemed very odd, and now he 
noticed for the first time that, although many of them 
were in their shirt-sleeves, nearly all wore black 
trousers. He could not understand it. 


217 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


“Mr. Litchfield, sir / 7 said a large, heavy man with 
a nose burnt very red, a travelling cap upon his head, 
and wearing a stiffly starched shirt which had once 
been white, no collar, and a waistcoat cut very straight 
in front, now opened, but intended to be buttoned up 
very high, “I believe Mr. Litchfield has voiced the 
sentiments of us all. As he was speaking, I looked 
from one brother to another, and I think I am right . 77 

“You are right ! 77 cried every one of the sturdy fel- 
lows who had so recently stepped from Synod to 
yacht. 

“I knew it ! 77 exultingly exclaimed the speaker. 
“I felt it in my heart of hearts ! Madam and cap- 
tain, knowing what we do, we are not the men to 
desert you when it is found necessary to continue the 
voyage for a little ! 77 

“And what would happen to us if we did leave the 
yacht ? 77 said another. “We might simply have to 
remain at Kingston until you returned. Oh, no ! we 
wouldn’t think of it ! 77 

“Burke , 77 said Shirley, in a low tone, “who are these 
people ? 77 

“Can’t tell you now , 77 said Burke, his eyes glisten- 
ing, “you might tumble overboard backward if I did ! 
Gentlemen,” he cried, turning to his crew, “you’re a 
royal lot ! And if any of you ever ask me to stand by 
you, I’ll do it while there’s breath in my body ! And 
now, madam,” said he, his doubt and perplexity gone, 
and his face animated by the necessity of immediate 
action, “I can’t now say anything about your kind- 
ness in lending us your yacht, but if you and Miss 
Croup want to go ashore, there is a boat alongside.” 

“Go ashore ! ” screamed Mrs. Cliff. “What are you 
218 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


talking about? If anybody stays on this yacht, I do ! 
I wouldn’t think of such a thing as going ashore ! ” 
“Nor I ! ” cried Willy. “What’s got into your head, 
Mr. Burke f Do you intend to go without eating ? ” 
“Ladies,” cried Burke, “you are truly trumps, and 
that’s all I’ve got to say ! And we’ll get out of this 
harbor just as fast as we can ! ” 

“Look here,” cried Shirley, running after Burke to 
the captain’s room, “I’ve got to go ashore again and 
get that cable message,— we must have authority to 
turn that steamer back, if we overhaul her,— and I’ve 
got to have somebody to go with me. But before we 
do anything, you must take time to tell me who these 
queer-looking customers are that you’ve got on board.” 

Burke shut the door of his room, and in as few 
words as possible he explained how some of the mem- 
bers of the recent Synod happened to be acting as crew 
of the yacht. Shirley was a quiet and rather sedate 
man, but when he heard this tale, he dropped into a 
chair, leaned back, stretched out his legs, and laughed 
until his voice failed him. 

“Oh, it’s all funny enough,” said Burke, almost as 
merry as his friend, “but they’re good ones— I can tell 
you that ! You couldn’t get together a better set of 
landsmen. And I tell you what I’ll do. If you want 
anybody to go with you to certify that you are all 
right, I’ll send a couple of parsons ! ” 

“Just what I want ! ” cried Shirley. 

Burke quickly stepped out on deck, and calling the 
mate, “Mr. Burdette,” he said, “I want you to detail 
the Rev. Charles Attlebury and the Rev. Mr. Gil- 
lingham to go ashore with Mr. Shirley. Tell them to 
put on their parson’s toggery,— long coats, high hats, 
219 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


and white cravats,— and let each man take with him 
the address of his church on a card. They are to cer- 
tify to Mr. Shirley. Tell them to step round lively— 
we have no time to lose ! n 

Soon after the boat with Shirley and the clergymen 
had pulled away from the yacht, two of the clerical 
crew came to Mrs. Cliff, and told her that they were 
very sorry indeed to say that, having consulted the 
sailing-master, and having been told by him that it 
was not at all probable that the yacht would be able 
to return to Kingston in a week, they had been forced 
to the conclusion that they would not be able to offer 
her their services during the voyage she was about to 
make. Important affairs at home would make it 
impossible for them to prolong their most delightful 
vacation, and as they had been informed that the An- 
tonina would return to New York in a few days, it 
would be advisable for them to leave the yacht and 
take passage to New York in her. They felt, how- 
ever, that this apparent desertion would be of less 
importance than it would have been if it had occurred 
in the port of Nassau, because now the crew would 
have the assistance of Mr. Shirley, who was certainly 
worth more than both of them together. 

When Burke heard this, he said to Mrs. Cliff that 
he was not sure but what the parsons were quite cor- 
rect, and although everybody was sorry to lose two 
members of the party, it could not be helped, and all 
who had letters to send to New York went to work to 
scribble them as fast as they could. Mrs. Cliff also 
wrote a note to Captain Horn, informing him of the 
state of affairs, and of their reasons for not waiting 
for him, and this the departing clergymen undertook 
220 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


to leave with. Beaver & Hughes, where Captain Horn 
would be sure to call. 

When Shirley reached the counting-house of Beaver 
& Hughes, he found that it was a great advantage to 
be backed up by a pair of reverend clergymen who 
had come to Kingston in a handsome yacht. The 
message for Captain Hagar was delivered without 
hesitation, and the best wishes were expressed that 
they might be able to overtake the Dunkery Beacon . 

“Her course will be south of Tobago Island,” said 
Mr. Beaver, “and then, if your yacht is the vessel you 
say it is, I should say you ought to overtake her before 
she gets very far down the coast. I don’t know that 
Captain Hagar will turn back when he gets this mes- 
sage, having gone so far, but, of course, if it is impor- 
tant, I am glad there is a vessel here to take it to 
him.” 

“What sort of a looking vessel is the Dunkery 
Beacon ? ” asked Shirley. 

“She is about two thousand tons,” said the other, 
“has two masts which do not rake much, and her 
funnel is painted black and white, the stripes running 
up and down. There are three steamers on the line, 
and all their funnels are painted that way.” 

“We’ll be apt to know her when we see her,” said 
Shirley, and, with a hurried leave, he and his com- 
panions hastened back to the wharves. 

But on the way a thought struck Shirley, and he 
determined to take time to go to the post-office. 
There might be something for him, and he had not 
thought of it before. There he found a telegraphic 
message addressed to him, and sent from Yera Cruz to 
Hew York, and thence forwarded by mail. It was 
221 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


from Captain Horn, and was as long as an ordinary 
business note, and informed Shirley that the captain 
expected to be in Jamaica not long after this message 
reached Kingston. There was no regular steamer 
which would reach there in good time, but he had 
chartered a steamer, the Monterey , which was then 
being made ready for sea as rapidly as possible, and 
would probably clear for Kingston in a few days. It 
urged Shirley not to fail to keep the Dunkery Beacon 
in port until he arrived. 

Shirley stood speechless for some minutes after he 
had read this message. This telegram had come with 
him on the Antonina from New York ! What a fool 
he had been not to think sooner of the post-office ! 
But what difference would it have made ? What could 
he have done that he had not done ? If the captain 
sailed in a few days from the time he sent the message, 
he would be here very soon, for the distance between 
Kingston and Vera Cruz was less than that from New 
York to Kingston. The captain must have counted on 
Shirley reaching Jamaica very much sooner than he 
really did arrive. Puzzled, annoyed, and disgusted 
with himself, Shirley explained the message to his 
companions, and they all hastened back to the yacht. 
There a brief but very hurried consultation was held, 
in which nearly everybody j oined. The question to be 
decided was, should they wait for Captain Horn? 

A grc" t deal was said in a very short time, and in 
the midst of the confused opinions Mrs. Cliff spoke 
out, loudly and clearly. “It is my opinion/ 7 said she, 
“that we should not stop. If fitting out a steamer is 
like fitting out anything else in this world that I know 
of, it is almost certain to take more time than people 
222 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


expect it to take. If Captain Horn telegraphed to 
us this minute, I believe he would tell us to go after 
that ship with the gold on board, just as fast as we 
can, and tell them to turn back.” 

This speech was received with favor by all who heard 
it, and, without a word in answer to Mrs. Cliff, Captain 
Burke told Mr. Burdette that they would clear for a 
cruise, and get away just as soon as they could do it. 

When the yacht had been made ready to start, the 
two clergymen descended into the boat which was 
waiting alongside, and the Summer Shelter steamed out 
of the harbor of Kingston, and headed away for To- 
bago Island. 


223 


CHAPTER XXV 


A NOTE FOR CAPTAIN BURKE 

Notwithstanding the fact that the Summer Shelter 
made very good time, that she had coaled at Nassau, 
and was therefore ready for an extended cruise, it was 
impossible for any of those on board of her to conceal 
from themselves the very strong improbability of 
sighting the DunJcery Beacon after she had got out 
upon the wide Atlantic, and that she would pass the 
comparatively narrow channel south of Tobago Island 
before the yacht reached it was almost a foregone 
conclusion. 

Mr. Burke assured Mrs. Cliff and his passengers that 
although their chase after the steamer might reason- 
ably suggest a needle and a haystack, still, if the Dun- 
kery Beacon kept down the coast in as straight a line 
as she could for Cape St. Roque, and if the Summer 
Shelter also kept the same line, and if the yacht 
steamed a great deal faster than the other vessel, it 
stood to reason that it could not be very long before 
the Summer Shelter overhauled the Dunkery Beacon . 

But those who consulted with Mr. Portman were 
not so well encouraged as those who pinned their 
faith upon the captain. The sailing-master had very 
224 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


strong doubts about ever sighting the steamer that 
had sailed away two days before they left Kingston. 
The ocean being so very large, and any steamer being 
so very small comparatively, if they did not pass her 
miles out of sight, and if they never caught up to her, 
he would not be in the least surprised. 

Four days had passed since they left Kingston, when 
Burke and Shirley stood together upon the deck, 
scanning the horizon with a glass. “ Don’t you think 
it begins to look like a wild-goose chase!” said the 
latter. 

Burke thrust his hands into the pockets of his 
jacket. 

“Yes,” said he, “it does look like that. I did be- 
lieve that we were going to overhaul her before she 
got outside the Caribbees, but she must be a faster 
vessel than I thought she was.” 

“I don’t believe she’s fast at all,” said Shirley. 
“She’s had two days’ start, and that’s enough to spoil 
our business, I’m afraid ! ” 

“But we’ll keep on,” said Burke. “We’re not going 
to turn back until our coal-bunkers tell us we’ve got 
to do it ! ” 

Steamers they saw, sometimes two in an hour; 
sailing-vessels were sighted, near by or far away— 
schooners, ships, or brigs ; and these were steaming and 
sailing this way and that. But never did they see a 
steamer with a single funnel painted black and white, 
with the stripes running up and down. 

It was very early the next morning after the conver- 
sation between Burke and Shirley that the latter saw a 
long line of smoke just above the horizon, which he 
thought might give him reason for looking out for the 
225 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


steamer of which they were in quest. But when he got 
his glass, and the masts appeared above the horizon, 
he saw that this vessel was heading eastward, perhaps 
a little northeast, and therefore was not likely to be 
the Dunkery Beacon . But in half an hour his glass 
showed him that there were stripes on the funnel of 
this steamer which ran up and down, and in a mo- 
ment Burke was called, and was soon at his side. 

“I believe that’s the Dunkery ! ” cried the captain, 
with the glass to his eye. “But she’s on the wrong 
course ! It won’t take us long to overhaul her. 
We’ll head the yacht a few points to the east. Don’t 
say anything to anybody— we don’t want to disap- 
point them.” 

“Oh, we can overhaul her,” said Shirley, who now 
had the glass, “for it isn’t a stern chase, by any 
means.” 

In less than half an hour everybody on board the 
Summer Shelter knew that the large steamer, which 
they could plainly see on the rolling waves to the 
south, must be the Dunkery Beacon— unless, indeed, 
they should find that this was one of her sister ships 
coming north. There was great excitement on board 
the yacht. The breakfast, which was in course of prep- 
aration, was almost entirely forgotten by those who 
had it in charge, and everybody who could possibly 
leave duty crowded to the rail, peering across the 
waves to the southward. It was not long before Shir- 
ley, who had the best eyes on board, declared that he 
could read with his glass the name Dunkery Beacon on 
the port bow. 

“That’s not where we ought to see it,” cried Burke. 
“We ought to see it on the stern ! But we’ve got her, 
226 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


boys ! ”— and then he remembered himself, and added, 
u — ladies ! And now let’s give three good cheers ! ” 

Three rousing cheers were given by all on board, 
with such good will that they would have been heard 
on the other steamer had not the wind been pretty 
strong from the west. 

The Summer Shelter gained upon the larger vessel, 
and Burke now ran up signals for her to lay to, as he 
wished to speak with her. To these signals, however, 
the Dunkery paid no immediate attention, keeping 
steadily on, although altering her course toward the 
southeast. 

“What does that mean, Mr. Shirley?” asked Mrs. 
Cliff. “Mr. Burke wants her to stop, doesn’t he?” 

“Yes,” said Shirley, “that is what the signal is for.” 

“But she doesn’t stop ! ” said Mrs. Cliff. “Do you 
think there is any chance of her not stopping at all ? ” 

“Can’t say, madam,” he answered. “But she’s got 
good reason for keeping on her way. A vessel with all 
that treasure on board could hardly be expected to 
lay to because a strange vessel that she knows nothing 
about asks her to shut off steam.” 

“That seems to me very reasonable, indeed,” said 
Mr. Litchfield, who was standing by. “But it would 
be very bad fortune if, after all the trouble and 
anxiety you have had in overtaking this vessel, she 
should decline to stop and hear the news we have to 
tell.” 

There was a strong breeze and a good deal of sea, 
but Burke determined to get near enough to hail the 
Dunkery Beacon and speak to her. So he got round on 
her weather quarter, and easily overtaking her, he 
brought the Summer Shelter as near to the other vessel 
227 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


as lie considered it safe to do. Then he hailed her : 
“ Dunkery Beacon , ahoy ! Is that Captain Hagar ? ” 

The wind was too strong for the captain of the other 
vessel to answer through his trumpet, but he signalled 
assent. Then Burke informed him that he wished 
him to lay to in order that he might send a boat on 
board — that he had very important orders to Captain 
Hagar from his owners, and that he had followed him 
from Jamaica in order to deliver them. For some 
time there was no answer whatever to these loudly 
bellowed remarks, and the two vessels kept on side by 
side. 

“Anyway,” said Burke to Mr. Burdette, “she can 
see that we’re a lot faster than she is, and that she 
can’t get away from us ! ” 

“It may be that she’s afraid of us,” said the mate, 
“and thinks we’re one of the pirates.” 

“That can’t be,” said Burke, “for she doesn’t know 
anything about the pirates ! I’ll hail her again, and 
tell her what we are, and what our business is. I 
think it won’t be long before she lays to just to see 
what we want.” 

Sure enough, in less than fifteen minutes the Dunkery 
Beacon signalled that she would lay to, and before long 
the two vessels, their engines stopped and their heads 
to the wind, lay rising and falling on the waves, and 
near enough to speak to each other. 

“Now, then, what do you want?” shouted the cap- 
tain of the Dunkery. 

“I want to send a boat aboard with an important 
message from Blackburn ! ” 

After a few minutes the answer came, “Send a 
boat!” 


228 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


Orders were given to lower one of the yacht’s boats, 
and it was agreed that Shirley ought to be the man to 
go over to the Durikery Beacon. “Who do you want 
to go with you? ” asked Burke. 

“Nobody but the boat’s crew,” he answered. “I 
can explain things better by myself. Captain Hagar 
seems to be an obstinate fellow, and it won’t be easy 
to turn him back on his course. But if I want any- 
body to stand by me and back me up in what I say, 
you might let some of the clergymen come over. He 
might believe them, and wouldn’t me. But I’ll talk 
to him first by myself.” 

Every member of the Synod declared that he was 
perfectly willing to go to the other vessel if he should 
be needed, and Mrs. Cliff assured Burke that if she 
could be of any good in making the captain of the 
Dunkery Beacon understand that he ought to turn 
back, she would be perfectly willing to be rowed over 
to his vessel. 

“I don’t think it will be necessary to put a lady 
into a boat on such a sea as this,” said Burke. “But 
when he hears what Shirley has to tell him, that cap- 
tain will most likely be glad enough to turn back.” 

Captain Burke was afraid to trust any of his clerical 
crew to row a ship’s boat on such a heavy sea, and 
although he would be perfectly willing to go himself 
as one of the oarsmen, he would not leave the yacht 
so long as Mrs. Cliff was on board. But Mr. Burdette, 
the sailing-master, and the assistant engineer volun- 
teered as crew of the boat, while Shirley himself 
pulled an oar. 

When the boat reached the Dunkery Beacon , Shirley 
was soon on board, while the three men in the boat, 
229 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


holding to a line which had been thrown them, kept 
their little craft from bumping against the side of the 
big steamer by pushing her off with their oars. On 
board the Summer Shelter everybody stood and gazed 
over the rail, staring at the other steamer as if they 
could hear with their eyes what was being said on 
board of her. After waiting about twenty minutes, a 
note was passed down to the men in the boat, who 
pushed off and rowed back with it to the Summer Shelter. 

The note, which Captain Burke opened and read as 
soon as he could lay hold of it, ran as follows : 

“ To Captain Burke of the ‘ Summer Shelter ’ : It’s 
my opinion that you’re trying to play a beastly trick 
on me! It isn’t like my owners to send a message 
to me off the coast of South America. If they wanted 
to send me a mesage, it would have been waiting for 
me at Kingston. I don’t know what sort of a trick you 
are trying to play on me, but you can’t do it. I know 
my duties, and I’m going to keep on to my port. And, 
what’s more, I’m not going to send back the man you 
sent aboard of me. I’ll take him with me to Bio Janeiro, 
and hand him over to the authorities. They’ll know 
what to do with him. But I don’t intend to send him 
back to report to you whatever he was sent aboard my 
vessel to find out. 

“ I don’t know how you came to think I had treasure 
on board, but it’s none of your business, anyway. You 
must think I’m a fool to turn back to Kingston because 
you tell me to. Anybody can write a telegram. So I’m 
going to get under way, and you can steam back to 
Kingston, or wherever you came from. 

“ Captain Hagar.” 

Captain Burke had hardly finished reading this 
extraordinary letter when he heard a cry from the 
230 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


boat lying by tbe side of the yacht in which the three 
men were waiting, expecting to go back to the other 
vessel with an answer. “ Hello ! ” cried Mr. Burdette. 
“She’s getting under way ! That steamer’s off ! ” 

And at this a shout arose from everybody on board 
the Summer Shelter . The propeller of the Dunkery 
Beacon was stirring the water at her stern, and she 
was moving away, her bow turned southward. Burke 
leaned over the rail, shouted to his men to get on 
board and haul up the boat, and then he gave orders 
to go ahead full speed. 

“What does all this mean?” cried Mrs. Cliff. 
“What’s in that letter, Mr. Burke? Are they run- 
ning away with Mr. Shirley?” 

“That’s what it looks like ! ” he cried. “But here’s 
the letter. You can all read it for yourselves ! ” And 
with that he dashed away to take charge of his 
vessel. 

All now was wild excitement on board the Summer 
Shelter , but what was to be done, or with what inten- 
tion they were pursuing the Dunkery Beacon and 
rapidly gaining upon her, no one could say, not even 
Captain Burke himself. The yacht was keeping on 
the weather quarter of the other vessel, and when she 
was near enough, he began again to yell at her through 
his speaking-trumpet. But no answer or signal came 
back, and everybody on board the larger vessel seemed 
to be attending to his duties as if nothing had hap- 
pened, while Mr. Shirley was not visible. 

While the captain was roaring himself red in the 
face, both Mrs. Cliff and Willy Croup were crying, 
and the face of each clergyman showed great anxiety 
and trouble. Presently Mrs. Cliff was approached by 
231 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


the Rev. Mr. Arbuckle, the oldest of the members of 
the late Synod who had shipped with her. 

“This is a most unfortunate and totally unexpected 
outcome of our expedition,” said he. “If Mr. Shirley 
is taken to Rio Janeiro and charges made against him, 
his case may be very serious. But I cannot see what 
we are to do ! Don’t you believe it would be well to 
call a consultation of those on board ? ” 

Mrs. Cliff wiped her eyes, and said they ought to 
consult. If anything could be done, it should be done 
immediately. 

Captain Burke put the yacht in charge of the mate, 
and came aft, where five of the clergymen, the sailing- 
master, and Mrs. Cliff and Willy were gathered to- 
gether. “I’m willing to hold council,” said he, “but 
at this minute I can’t give any advice as to what 
ought to be done. The only thing I can say is that 
I don’t want to desert Shirley. If I could do it, I 
would board that vessel and take him off, but I don’t 
see my way clear to that just yet. I’m not owner 
of this yacht, but if Mrs. Cliff will give the word, I’ll 
follow that steamer to Rio Janeiro, and if Shirley is 
put on shore and charges made against him, I’ll be 
there to stand by him ! ” 

“Of course, we will not desert Mr. Shirley ! ” cried 
Mrs. Cliff. “This yacht shall follow that vessel until 
we can take him on board again. I can’t feel it in my 
heart, gentlemen, to say to you that I’m willing to 
turn back and take you home if you want to go. It 
may be very hard to keep you longer, but it will be 
a great deal harder if we let the captain of that 
ship take poor Mr. Shirley to Rio Janeiro and put 
him into prison, with nobody to say a word for him ! ” 
232 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


“ Madam,” said Mr. Arbuckle, “I beg that you will 
not speak of the question of an immediate return on 
our account. This is in every way a most unfortunate 
affair, but we all see what ought to be done, what it 
is our duty to do, and we will do it ! Can you give 
me an idea, Mr. Portman, of the length of time it 
would probably require for us to reach Rio Janeiro ? ” 
“I think this yacht could get there in a week,’ 7 said 
the sailing-master. “But if we’re to keep company 
with that hulk over there, it will take us ten days. 
We may have trouble about coal, but if we have good 
winds like these, we can keep up with the Dunkery 
Beacon with half-steam and our sails.” 

“Captain,” said Mrs. Cliff, “there is no use in our 
talking any more. We must stand by Mr. Shirley, no 
matter what happens, nor where we have to go to ! ” 


233 


CHAPTER XXVI 

“WE’LL STICK TO SHIRLEY!” 

When night began to fall, the Dunkery Beacon was 
still keeping on her course,— a little too much to the 
eastward, Mr. Portman thought,— and the Summer 
Shelter was still accompanying her, almost abreast, and 
less than half a mile away. During the day it had 
been seldom that the glasses of the yacht had not 
been directed upon the deck of the larger vessel. 
Several times Mr. Shirley had been seen on the main- 
deck, and he had frequently waved his hat. It was 
encouraging to know that their friend was in good 
condition, but there were many hearts on board the 
Summer Shelter which grew heavier and heavier as the 
night came on. 

Burke and Burdette stood together in the pilot- 
house. “Suppose she gets away from us in the night ? ” 
said the mate. 

“I don’t intend to let her do it,” replied his captain. 
“Even if she douses every glim on board, I’ll keep her 
in sight ! It will be starlight, and I’m not afraid, with 
a vessel as easily managed as this yacht, to lie pretty 
close to her.” 


234 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


“Then, there’s another thing,” said Burdette. 

“You’re thinking they may get rid of him?” asked 
Burke. 

“Yes,” said the other, “I was thinking of that ! ” 

The captain did not reply immediately. “That 
came across my mind, too,” said he, “but it’s all non- 
sense ! In the first place, they haven’t got any reason 
for wanting to get rid of him that way, and, besides, 
they know that if they went into Rio Janeiro without 
Shirley, we could make it very hot for them ! ” 

“But he’s a queer one— that Captain Hagar ! ” said 
Burdette. “What was he doing on that easterly 
course ? I think he’s a scaly customer, that’s what I 
think ! ” 

“Can’t say anything about that,” answered Burke. 
“But one thing I know : I’m going to stick to him 
like a thrasher to a whale ! ” 

Very early the next morning, Mr. Hodgson came aft, 
where Captain Burke was standing with the sailing- 
master. “Sir,” said he, “I am a clergyman and a man 
of peace, but I declare, sir, that I do not think any 
one, no matter what his profession, should feel himself 
called upon to submit to the outrageous conduct of 
the captain of that vessel ! Is there no way in which 
we could approach her and make fast to her, and then 
boldly press our way on board, in spite of objection or 
resistance, and by force, if it should be necessary, bring 
away Mr. Shirley, whose misfortune has made us all 
feel as if he were not only our friend, but our brother? 
Then, sir, I should let that vessel go on to destruction, 
if she chooses to go.” 

Burke shook his head. “You may be sure, if I con- 
sidered it safe to run the two vessels together, I would 
235 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


have been on board that craft long ago ! But we 
couldn’t do it— certainly not with Mrs. Cliff on the 
yacht ! ” 

“No, indeed ! ” added Mr. Portman. “Nobody 
knows what damage they might do us. For my part, 
I haven’t any faith in that vessel. I believe she’s no 
better than a pirate herself ! ” 

“Hold on !” exclaimed Burke. “Don’t talk like 
that ! It wouldn’t do for the women to get any such 
notions into their heads ! ” 

“But it is in your head, isn’t it, sir?” said Mr. 
Hodgson. 

“Yes,” said Burke, “something of the sort. I don’t 
mind saying that to you.” 

“And I will also say to you,” replied the young 
clergyman, “that we talked it over last night, and we 
all agreed that the actions of the Bunkery Beacon are 
very suspicious. It does not seem at all unlikely that 
the great treasure she carries has been too much of a 
temptation for the captain, and that she is trying to 
get away with it.” 

“Of course, I don’t know anything about that cap- 
tain,” said Burke, “or what he is after, but I’m pretty 
sure that he won’t dare to do anything to Shirley as 
long as I keep him in sight. And now I’m going to 
bear down on him again to hail him ! ” 

The Summer Shelter bore down upon the other 
steamer, and her captain hailed and hailed for half an 
hour, but no answer came from the Bunkery Beacon. 

Willy Croup was so troubled by what had happened, 
and even more by what was not happening,— for she 
could not see any good which might come out of this 
persistent following of the one vessel by the other,— 
236 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


that her nerves disordered and tangled themselves to 
such a degree that she was scarcely able to cook. 

But Mrs. Cliff kept up a strong heart. She felt that 
a great deal depended upon her. At any moment an 
emergency might arise when she would be called upon, 
as owner of the yacht, to decide what should be done. 
She hoped very earnestly that if the captain of the 
Dunkery Beacon saw that the Summer Shelter was deter- 
mined to follow him, wherever he went and whatever 
he might do, he would at last get tired of being nagged 
in that way, and consent to give up Mr. Shirley. 

About eight o’clock in the morning, all belief in 
the minds of the men on board the yacht that the 
Dunkery Beacon intended to sail to Rio Janeiro en- 
tirely disappeared, for that steamer changed her course 
to one considerably north of east. A little after that 
a steamer was seen on the horizon to the north, and she 
was bearing southward. In the course of half an hour 
it seemed as if this new steamer was not only likely 
to run across the course of the Dunkery Beacon , but 
was trying to do it. 

“ Captain,” exclaimed Mrs. Cliff, grasping Burke by 
the arm, “ don’t you think it looks very much as if 
that Captain Hagar was trying to run away with the 
treasure which has been intrusted to him ? ” 

“I didn’t intend to say anything to you about that,” 
he replied, “but it looks like it, most decidedly ! ” 

“If that should be the case,” said Mrs. Cliff, “don’t 
you think Mr. Shirley’s situation is very dangerous ? ” 
“Nobody knows anything about that, madam,” said 
he, “but until we get him back on this yacht, I’ll stick 
to her ! ” 

Burke could not make out the newcomer very well, 
237 


MRS. CLIFF’S YACHT 


but be knew her to be a Mediterranean steamer. She 
was of moderate size, and making good headway. “I 
haven’t the least bit of a doubt/’ said he to Burdette, 
“that that’s the pirate vessel from Genoa ! ” 

“I shouldn’t wonder if you’re right ! ” said the mate, 
taking the glass. “I think I can see a lot of heads in 
her bow, and now I wonder what is going to happen 
next ! ” 

“That nobody knows,” said Burke, “but if I had 
Shirley on board here, I’d steam away and let them 
have it out. We have done all we’re called upon to do 
to keep those Peruvian fools from losing that cargo of 
gold!” 

The strange vessel drew nearer and nearer to the 
Dunkery Beacon , and the two steamers, much to the 
amazement of the watchers on the yacht, now lay to 
and seemed prepared to hail each other. They did 
hail, and after a short time a boat was lowered from 
the stranger, and pulled to the Dunkery Beacon. 
There were but few men in the boat, although there 
were many heads on the decks from which they had 
come. 

“This beats me !” ejaculated Burke. “They seem 
willing enough to lay to for her ! ” 

“It looks to me,” said Mr. Burdette, “as if she 
wanted to be captured ! ” 

“I’d like to know,” said the captain, “what’s the 
meaning of that queer bit of blotched bunting that’s 
been run up on the Dunkery f ” 

“Can’t tell,” said the other, “but there’s another 
one like it on the other steamer ! ” 

“My friends,” said Mr. Arbuckle, standing in a 
group of his fellow- clergymen on the main-deck, 
238 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


“it is my earnest opinion that those two ships are 
accomplices in a great crime/ 7 

“If that be so/ 7 said another, “we are here in the 
position of utterly helpless witnesses. But we should 
not allow ourselves to look on this business from one 
point of view only. It may be that the intentions of 
that recently arrived vessel are perfectly honorable. 
She may bring later orders from the owners of the 
Dunkery Beacon , and bring them, too, with more au- 
thority than did Mr. Shirley, who, after all, was only 
a volunteer ! 77 

The yacht was lying to, and at this moment the 
lookout announced a sail on the starboard quarter. 
Glancing in that direction, nearly everybody could 
see that another steamer, her hull well up in view, 
was coming down from the north. 

“By George ! 77 cried Burke, “most likely that’s 
another of the pirates ! 77 

“And if it is, 77 said his mate, “I think we’ll have to 
trust to our heels ! 77 

Burke answered quietly, “Yes, we’ll do that when 
we’ve got Shirley on board, or when it’s dead sure we 
can’t get him ! 77 

The people from the Mediterranean steamer did not 
remain on board the Dunkery Beacon more than half 
an hour, and when they returned to their vessel, she 
immediately started her engines and began to move 
away. Making a short circuit, she turned and steamed 
in the direction of the distant vessel approaching from 
the northward. 

“There, 77 cried Burke, “that steamer off there is 
another of the pirates, and these scoundrels here are 
going to meet her. They’ve got the whole thing cut 
239 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


and dried, and I’ll bet my bead that the Dunkery 
Beacon will cruise around here until they’re ready to 
come down and do what they please with her ! ” 

The actions of the treasure-ship now seemed to in- 
dicate that Mr. Burke was correct in his surmises. 
She steamed away slowly toward the south, and then, 
making a wide sweep, she steered northward, direct- 
ing her course toward the yacht, as if she would speak 
with it. 


240 


CHAPTER XXVII 


ON BOARD THE “DUNKERY BEACON” 

When Edward Shirley stepped on board the big 
steamer which he had so earnestly and anxiously fol- 
lowed from Kingston, and was received by her captain, 
it did not take him long to form the opinion that Cap- 
tain Hagar belonged to a disagreeable class of mariners. 
He was gruff, curt, and wanted to know in the shortest 
space of time why in the name of his Satanic Majesty 
he had been asked to lay to, and what message that 
yacht had for him. 

Shirley asked for a private interview, and when 
they were in the captain’s room he put the whole 
matter into as few words as possible, showed the cable- 
gram from Blackburn, and also exhibited his message 
from Captain Horn. The other scrutinized the papers 
very carefully, asked many questions, but made few 
remarks in regard to his own opinion or intentions. 

When he had heard all that Shirley had to tell him, 
and had listened to some very earnest advice that he 
should immediately turn back to Kingston, or at least 
run into Georgetown, where he might safely lie in 
harbor until measures had been taken for the safe 
conveyance of the treasure to Peru, the captain of the 
241 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


Durikery Beacon arose, and asking Shirley to remain 
where he was until he should go and consult with his 
first mate, he went out, closing the door of the room 
behind him. 

During this absence the captain did not see the first 
mate, but he went to a room where there was pen, ink, 
and paper, and there he wrote a note to Captain Burke 
of the Summer Shelter , which note, as soon as he had 
signed it, he gave to the men in the small boat wait- 
ing alongside, telling them that it was from their mate 
who had come on board, and that he wanted an answer 
just as soon as possible. 

Mr. Burdette, Mr. Portman, and the assistant en- 
gineer, having no reason whatever to suspect treachery 
under circumstances like these, immediately rowed 
back to the Summer Shelter , and, as we already 
know, it was not long before the Dunkery Beacon was 
steaming away from the yacht. 

The moment that Shirley, who was getting a little 
tired of waiting, felt the movement of the engines, he 
sprang to the door, but found it locked. Now he 
began to kick, but in a very few moments the captain 
appeared. 

“You needn’t make a row,” said he. “ Nobody’s 
going to hurt you. I have sent a note to your skipper, 
telling him I’m going to keep you on board a little 
while until I can consider this matter. My duty to 
my owners wouldn’t allow me to be a-layin’ to here. 
But I’ll think over the business, and do what I consider 
right. But I’ve got to keep on my course— I’ve got 
no right to lose time, whether this is all a piece of 
foolin’ or not.” 

“ There’s no fooling about it,” said Shirley, warmly. 

242 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


“If yon don’t turn back you will be very likely to 
lose a good deal more than time. You may lose 
everything on board, and your lives too, for all you 
know.” 

The captain laughed. “Pirates ! ” said he. “What 
stuff ! There are no pirates in these days ! ” and then 
he laughed again. “Well, I can’t talk any more now,” 
said he, “but I’ll keep your business in my mind, and 
settle it pretty soon. Then you can go back and tell 
your people what I’ll do. You had better go on deck 
and make yourself comfortable. If you’ll take my 
advice, you won’t do any talking. The people on this 
vessel don’t know what she carries, and I don’t want 
them to know. So if I see you talking to anybody, 
I’ll consider that you want to make trouble— and I 
can tell you, if some of these people on board knew 
what was in them boxes in the hold, there would be 
the worst kind of trouble. You can bet your head on 
that ! So you can go on and show yourself. Your 
friends won’t be worried about you— I’ve explained 
it all to them in my note ! ” 

When Shirley went on deck he was very much 
pleased to see that the Summer Shelter was not far 
away, and was steaming close after the larger vessel. 
He waved his hat, and then he turned to look about 
him. There seemed to be a good many men on the 
steamer,— a very large crew, in fact,— and after noticing 
the number of sailors who were at work not far away 
from him, Shirley came to the conclusion that there 
were more reasons than one why he would not hold 
conversation with them. 

From their speech he thought that they must all be 
foreigners — French or Italians, he could scarcely tell 
243 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


which. It did not seem to him that these belonged to 
the class of seamen which a careful captain of a British 
merchantman would wish to ship when carrying a 
cargo of treasure to a distant land, but then/all sorts 
of crews were picked up in English ports. Her cap- 
tain, in fact, surprised Shirley more than did the sea- 
men he had noticed. This captain must, of course, be 
an Englishman, for the house of Blackburn Brothers 
would not be likely to trust one of their vessels, and 
such an important one, to the charge of any one but 
an Englishman. But he had a somewhat foreign look 
about him. His eyes and hair were very black, and 
there was a certain peculiarity in his pronunciation 
that made Shirley think at first that he might be a 
Welshman. 

While Shirley was considering these matters, the 
Summer Shelter was rapidly gaining on the other 
steamer, and was now alongside and within hailing 
distance, and Burke was on the bridge with a trumpet 
in his hand. At this moment Shirley was accosted by 
the captain. “Eve got something to say to you,” said 
he. “Step into my room. Perhaps we can give your 
friend an answer at once.” 

Shirley followed the other, the door was shut, and 
the captain of the Dunlcery Beacon began to tell how 
extremely injudicious it would be, in his opinion, to 
turn back, for if pirates really were following him,— 
although he did not believe a word of it,— he might 
run right into their teeth, whereas by keeping on his 
course he would most likely sail away from them, and 
when he reached Rio Janeiro, he could make arrange- 
ments there for some sort of a convoy, or whatever 
else was considered necessary. 

244 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


“I’ll go and hail my skipper,” said Shirley, “if you’ll 
let me have a speaking-trumpet.” 

“No,” said the other, “I don’t want you to do that. 
I don’t mind tellin’ you that I don’t trust you. I’ve 
got very heavy responsibility on me, and I don’t know 
who you are no more than if you was a porpoise come 
a-bouncin’ up out of the sea. I don’t want you and 
your skipper hoi din’ no conversation with each other 
until I’ve got this matter settled to my satisfaction, 
and then I can put you on board your vessel, and go 
ahead on my course, or I can turn back, just which- 
ever I make up my mind to do. But, until I make 
up my mind, I don’t want no reports made from this 
vessel to any other, and no matter what you say when 
you are hailin’, how do I know what you mean, 
and what sort of signals you’ve agreed on between 
you? ” 

Shirley was obliged to accept the situation, and 
when Burke had ceased to hail, he was allowed to go 
on deck. Then, after waving his hat to the yacht,— 
which was now at a considerable distance, although 
within easy range of a glass,— Shirley lighted his pipe, 
and walked up and down the deck. He saw a good 
many things to interest him, but he spoke to no one, 
and endeavored to assume the demeanor of one who 
was much interested in his own affairs, and very little 
in what was going on about him. 

But Shirley noticed a great many things which 
made a deep impression upon him. The crew seemed 
to be composed of men not very well disciplined, but 
exceedingly talkative, and although Shirley did not 
understand French, he was now pretty sure that all 
the conversation he heard was in that tongue. Then, 
245 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


again, the men did not appear to be very well ac- 
quainted with the vessel— they frequently seemed to 
be looking for things the position of which they 
should have known. He could not understand how 
men who had sailed on a vessel from Southampton 
should show such a spirit of inquiry in regard to the 
internal arrangements of the steamer. A boatswain, 
who was giving the orders to a number of men, seemed 
more as if he were instructing a class in the nautical 
management of a vessel than in giving the ordinary 
every-day orders which might be expected on such a 
voyage as this. Once he saw the captain come on 
deck with a book in his hand, apparently a log-book, 
and he showed it to one of the mates. These two 
stood turning over the leaves of the book as if they 
had never seen it before, and wanted to find something 
which they supposed to be in it. 

It was not long after this that Shirley said to him- 
self that he could not understand how such a vessel, 
with such a cargo, could have been sent out from 
Southampton in charge of such a captain and such a 
crew as this. And then, almost immediately, the idea 
came to him in a flash that perhaps this was not the 
crew with which the Bunkery Beacon had sailed ! Now 
he seemed to see the whole state of affairs as if it had 
been printed on paper. The Bunkery Beacon had been 
captured by one of the pirates, probably not long after 
she got outside the Caribbees, and instead of trying 
to take the treasure on board their own vessel, the 
scoundrels had rid the Bunkery of her captain and 
crew, and had taken possession of the steamer and 
everything in it. This would explain her course when 
she was first sighted from the yacht. She was not 
246 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


going at all to Rio Janeiro— she was on her way across 
the Atlantic. 

Now everything that he had seen, and everything 
that he had heard, confirmed this new belief. Of 
course, the pirate captain did not wish to lay to when 
he was first hailed, and he probably did so at last 
simply because he found he need not be afraid of the 
yacht, and that he could not rid himself of her unless 
he stopped to see what she wanted. Of course, this 
fellow would not have him go back to the yacht and 
make a report. Of course, this crew did not under- 
stand how things were placed and stored on board the 
vessel, for they themselves had been on board of her 
but a very short time. The captain spoke English, 
but he was not an Englishman. 

Shirley saw plainer and plainer every second that 
the Dunkery Beacon had been captured by pirates, 
that probably not a man of her former crew was on 
board, and that he was here a prisoner in the hands 
of these wretches— cut-throats, for all he knew. And 
yet, he did not reproach himself for having run into 
such a trap. He had done the proper thing, in a 
proper, orderly, and seaman-like way. He had had 
the most unexpected bad luck, but he did not in the 
least see any reason to blame himself. 

He saw, however, a great deal of reason to fear for 
himself, especially as the evening drew on. That 
black-headed villain of a captain did not want him on 
board, and while he might not care to toss him into 
the sea in view of a vessel which was fast enough to 
follow him wherever he might go, there was no reason 
why he should not do what he pleased if, under cover 
of the night, he got away from that vessel. 

247 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


The fact that he was allowed to go where he pleased, 
and see what he pleased, gave much uneasiness to 
Shirley. It looked to him as if they did not care 
what he might say, hear, or see, for the reason that it 
was not intended that he should have an opportunity 
of making reports of any sort. Shirley had his 
supper to himself, and the captain showed him a 
bunk. “They can’t do much talkin’ to you,” he said. 
“I had to sail ahead of time, and couldn’t ship many 
Englishmen.” 

“You liar,” thought Shirley, “you didn’t ship any ! ” 

Shirley was a brave man, but as he lay awake in 
his bunk that night, cold shivers ran down his back 
many times. If violence were offered to him, of 
course he could not make any defence, but he was 
resolved that if an attack should be made upon him, 
there was one thing he would try to do. He had 
carefully noted the location of the companionways, 
and he had taken off only such clothes as would inter- 
fere with swimming. If he were attacked, he would 
make a bolt for the upper deck, and then overboard. 
If the yacht should be near enough to hear or see him, 
he might have a chance. If not, he would prefer the 
ocean to the Dunkery Beacon and her crew. 

But the night passed on, and he was not molested. 
He did not know, down there below decks, that all 
night the Summer Shelter kept so close to the Dunkery 
Beacon that the people in charge of the latter cursed 
and swore dreadfully at times when the yacht, looking 
bigger and blacker by night than she did by day, rose 
on the waves in their wake, so near that it seemed 
as if a sudden squall might drive the two vessels 
together. 


248 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


But there was really no reason for any such fear. 
Burke had vowed he would stick to Shirley, and he 
also stuck to the wheel all night, with Burdette or the 
sailing-master by his side. And there was not an hour 
when somebody, either a mariner or a clergyman, did 
not scan the deck of the Bunkery Beacon with a marine 
glass. 

Shirley was not allowed to go on deck until quite 
late the next morning, after Burke had given up his 
desperate attempt to communicate with the Bunkery 
Beacon ; and when he did come up, and had assured 
himself at a glance that the Summer Shelter still hung 
upon the heels of the larger steamer, and had fran- 
tically waved his hat, the next thing he saw was the 
small Mediterranean steamer which was rapidly com- 
ing down from the north, while the Bunkery Beacon 
was steaming northeast. He also noticed that some 
men near him were running up a queer little flag or 
signal, colored irregularly red and yellow, and then 
he saw upon the approaching steamer a bit of bunting 
which seemed to resemble the one now floating from 
the Bunkery. Of course, under the circumstances, 
there was nothing for him to believe but that this 
approaching vessel was one of the pirate ships, and 
that she was coming down, not to capture the Bunkery 
Beacon , but to join her. 

How matters were getting to be worse and worse, 
and as Shirley glanced over at the yacht,— still hover- 
ing on the weather quarter of the Bunkery , ready at 
any time to swoop down and hail her if there should 
be occasion, — he trembled for the fate of his friends. 
To be sure, these two pirate vessels — for surely the 
Bunkery Beacon now belonged to that class— were 
249 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


nothing but merchantmen. There were no cannon on 
this steamer, and as the other was now near enough 
for him to see her decks as she rolled to windward, 
there was no reason to suppose that she carried guns. 
If these rascals wished to attack or capture a vessel, 
they must board her, but before they could do that 
they must catch her, and he knew well enough that 
there were few ordinary steamers which could over- 
haul the Summer Shelter. If it were not for his own 
most unfortunate position, the yacht could steam away 
in safety, and leave these wretches to their own devices, 
but he did not believe that his old friend would desert 
him. More than that, there was no reason to suppose 
that the people on the Summer Shelter knew that the 
Dunkery Beacon was now manned by pirates, although 
it was likely that they would suspect the character of 
the newcomer. 

But Shirley could only stand, and watch, and wait. 
Once he thought that it might be well for him to jump 
overboard and strike out to the yacht. If he should 
be seen by his friends— and this he believed would 
happen— and if he should be picked up, his report 
would turn back into safer waters this peaceful pleas- 
ure vessel, with its two ladies and its seven clergymen. 
If he should be struck by a ball in the back of the 
head before he got out of gunshot of the Dunkery 1 s 
crew, then his friends would most likely see him sink, 
the reason for their remaining in the vicinity of these 
pirates would be at an end, and they might steam 
northward as fast as they pleased. 

The strange vessel came on and on, and soon showed 
herself to be a steamer of about nine hundred tons, of 
a model with which Shirley was not familiar, and with 
250 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


a great many men on board. The Bunkery Beacon lay 
to, and it was not long before this stranger had fol- 
lowed her example, and had lowered a boat. When 
three or four men from this boat had scrambled to the 
deck of the Bunkery Beacon , they were gladly wel- 
comed by the black -headed fellow who had passed 
himself off as Captain Hagar, and a most animated 
conversation now took place. Shirley could not 
understand anything that was said, and he had sense 
enough not to appear to be trying to do so ; but no 
one paid any attention to him, nor seemed to care 
whether he knew what was going on or not. 

At first the manner of the speakers indicated that 
they were wildly congratulating each other, but very 
soon it was evident that the Summer Shelter was the 
subject of their discourse. They all looked over at 
the yacht, some of them even shook their fists at her, 
and although Shirley did not understand their lan- 
guage, he knew very well that curses, loud and sav- 
age, were pouring over the bulwarks in the direction 
of his friends and their yacht. 

Then the subject of the conference changed. The 
fellows began to gaze northward ; a glass was turned 
in that direction. The exclamations be camemore vio- 
lent than before, and when Shirley turned, he saw for 
the first time the vessel which was coming down from 
the north. This vessel was now far away, but she was 
heading south, and it could not be long before she 
would arrive on the scene. 

Now Shirley’s heart sank about as far down as it 
would go. He had no doubt that this very vessel was 
another of the pirates. If she carried a gun, even if 
it were not a heavy one, he might as well bid good- 
251 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


by to the Summer Shelter. The pirates would not 
allow her to go to any port to tell her tale. 

The noisy conference now broke up. The boat with 
its crew returned to the other vessel, which almost 
immediately started, turned, and steamed away to the 
north, in the direction of the approaching steamer. 
This settled the matter. She was olf to join her pirate 
consort. N ow the Dunkery Beacon started her engines, 
and steamed slowly in the direction of the yacht, as 
if she wished to hail her. Shirley’s heart rose a little. 
If there was to be a parley, perhaps the pirates had 
decided to warn the yacht to stop meddling, and to 
take herself away, and if, by any happy fortune, it 
should be decided to send him to his friends, he would 
implore them, with all his heart and soul, to take the 
advice without the loss of a second. 


252 


CHAPTER XXVIII 


THE PEOPLE ON THE “MONTEREY” 

The vessel which had last appeared upon the scene, 
and which was now steaming down toward the Bun- 
leery Beacon and the Summer Shelter , while the small 
steamer from the Mediterranean was making her way 
northward to meet her, was the Monterey of Vera Cruz, 
and carried Captain Philip Horn and his wife Edna. 

As soon as Captain Horn had heard of the danger 
which threatened the treasure which was on its way 
from London to the Peruvian government,— treasure 
which had cost him such toil, anxiety, and suffering, 
and in the final just disposition of which he felt the 
deepest interest and even responsibility, although, in 
fact, the care and charge of it had passed entirely 
out of his hands,— he determined not only to write to 
Shirley to go to Jamaica, but to go there himself with- 
out loss of time, believing, from what he had heard, 
that he could surely reach Kingston before the arrival 
there of the Bunkery Beacon. 

But that steamer started before her time, and when 
he reached Vera Cruz, he found it impossible to leave 
immediately for his destination. And when at last he 
bought a steamer, and arrived at Kingston, the Bun - 
253 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


leery Beacon and the yacht Summer Shelter had both 
departed. But the captain found the letter from Mrs. 
Cliff, and while this explained a great deal, it also 
puzzled him greatly. 

His wife and Mrs. Cliff had corresponded with some 
regularity, but the latter had never mentioned the 
fact that she was the owner of a yacht. Mrs. Cliff had 
intended to tell Edna all about this new piece of prop- 
erty, but when she looked at the matter from an out- 
side point of view, it seemed to her such a ridiculous 
thing that she should own a yacht that she did not 
want to write anything about it until her plans were 
perfected, and she could tell just what she was going 
to do. But when she suddenly decided to sail for 
Jamaica, her mind was so occupied with the plans of 
the moment that she had no time to write. 

Therefore it was that Captain and Mrs. Horn won- 
dered greatly what in the name of common sense Mrs. 
Cliff was doing with a yacht. But they knew that 
Shirley and Burke were on board, and that they had 
sailed on the track of the Bunkery Beacon , hoping to 
overtake her and deliver the message which Shirley 
carried. The captain decided that it was his duty 
to follow these two vessels down the coast of South 
America. 

The Monterey was a large steamer sailing in ballast, 
and of moderate speed, and the captain had with him, 
besides his wife and her maid, the three negro men 
whom he had brought up from South America (who 
were now his devoted personal attendants), and a 
good-sized crew. Captain Horn had little hope of 
overhauling the two steamers, for even the yacht, 
which he had heard was a fast-sailing vessel, had had 
254 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


twenty-four hours’ start of him ; but he had reason to 
hope that he might meet one or both of them on their 
return, for if the yacht should fail to overhaul the 
Bunkery Beacon , she would certainly turn back to 
Kingston. 

Edna was as enthusiastic and interested in this 
voyage as her husband. She sympathized in all his 
anxiety in regard to the safety of the treasure, but 
even stronger than this was her desire to see once 
more her dear friend, whom she had come to look 
upon almost as an elder sister. 

During each day the captain and his wife were 
almost constantly on deck, their glasses sweeping 
the southeastern horizon, hoping for the sight of two 
steamers coming back to Kingston. They saw vessels 
coming and going, but they were not the craft they 
looked for, and after they left the Caribbean Sea the 
sail became fewer and fewer. On the second day after 
they left Tobago Island they fell in with a small 
steamer apparently in distress, for she was working 
her way under sail and against head winds toward 
the coast. 

When the captain spoke this steamer, he received 
a request to lower a boat and go on board of her. 
There he found an astonishing state of affairs. The 
steamer was from a French port, she carried no cargo, 
and she was commanded and manned by Captain 
Hagar and the crew of the English ship Bunkery 
Beacon. Captain Hagar’s story was not a long one, 
and he told it as readily to Captain Horn as he would 
to any other friendly mariner who might have boarded 
him. 

He had left Kingston with his vessel, as he had left it 
255 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


many times before, and the Caribbees were not half a 
day behind him when he was hailed by a steamer, — 
the one he was now on,— which had been following him 
for some time. He was told that this steamer carried 
a message from his owners, and, without suspecting 
anything, he lay to, and a boat came to him from the 
other ship. This boat had in it a good many more 
men than was necessary, but he suspected no evil 
until half a dozen men were on his deck and half a 
dozen pistols were pointed at the heads of himself and 
those around him. Then two more boats came over, 
more men boarded him, and without a struggle,— or 
hardly a cross word, as he expressed it, — the Dunkery 
Beacon was in the hands of sea-robbers. 

Captain Hagar was a mild-mannered man, an ex- 
cellent seaman, and of good common sense. He had 
before found orders waiting for him at Jamaica, and 
had not thought it surprising that orders should now 
have been sent after him. He had firearms on board, 
and might have defended himself to a certain extent, 
but he had suspected no evil, and when the pirates 
had boarded him it was useless to think of arms or 
defence. 

The men who had captured the Dunkery Beacon 
made very short work of their business. They simply 
exchanged vessels. They commanded Captain Hagar 
and all his men to go over to the French steamer, 
while they all came on board the Dunkery Beacon , 
bringing with them whatever they cared for. Captain 
Hagar was told that he could work his new vessel to 
any port in the world which suited him best, and then 
the Dunkery Beacon was headed southward and steamed 
away. 


256 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


When Captain Hagar’s engineers attempted to start 
the engines of their vessel, they found it impossible to 
do so. Several important pieces of the machinery had 
been taken out, hoisted on deck, and dropped over- 
board. Whatever port they might make, they must 
make it under sail. 

A broken-hearted and dejected man was Captain 
Hagar. He had lost a vast treasure which had been 
intrusted to him, and he had not ceased to wonder 
why the pirates had not murdered him and all his 
crew, and thrown them overboard. He hoped that in 
time he and his men might reach Georgetown, or some 
other port, but it would be slow and disheartening 
work under the circumstances. 

Captain Horn was also greatly cast down by the 
news he had received. W ith the least possible amount 
of trouble, the pirates had carried off, not only the 
treasure, but the ship which conveyed it, and now, in 
all probability, were far away with their booty. He 
could understand very well why they would not 
undertake such wholesale crime as the murder of all 
the people on the Dunkery, for it is probable that 
there were men among them who could not be trusted, 
even had the leaders been willing to undertake such 
useless bloodshed. If Captain Hagar and his men 
were set adrift on a steamer without machinery, it 
would be long before they could reach any port, and 
even if they should soon speak a vessel and report 
their misfortune, where was the policeman of the sea 
who would have authority to sail after the stolen 
vessel, or, if he had, would know on what course to 
follow her ? 

Captain Horn gave up the treasure as lost. The 
257 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


Bunkery Beacon was probably shaping her course for 
the coast of Africa, and even if he had a swifter vessel 
and could overhaul her, what could he do ? 

But now he almost forgot his trouble about the 
treasure, in his deep concern in the fate of Mrs. Cliff 
and her yacht. He had made up his mind that his 
friends on board that little vessel— he had very shad- 
owy ideas as to what sort of a yacht it was— had 
embarked upon this cruise entirely for his sake. They 
knew that he took a deep personal interest in the 
safety of the Bunkery Beacon , they knew that he had 
done everything possible to detain that vessel at 
Jamaica, and that now, for his peace of mind, for the 
gratification of his feelings of honor,— no matter how 
exaggerated they might consider them,— they were 
following in a little pleasure craft a steamer which 
they supposed to be a peaceful merchantman, but 
which was in fact a pirate ship manned by miscreants 
without conscience. 

His plan was soon decided upon. He told Captain 
Hagar that he would take him and his men on his 
own vessel, and that he would carry them with him 
on his search for the yacht on which his friends had 
sailed. Captain Hagar agreed in part to this propo- 
sition. He would be glad to go with Captain Horn, 
for it was possible he might hear news of his lost vessel, 
but he did not wish to give up the French steamer. 
She was worth money, and if she could be got into 
port, he felt it his duty to get her there. So he left 
on board a crew sufficient to work her to Georgetown, 
and, with the majority of his crew, came on board the 
Monterey , and Captain Horn continued on his southern 
course. 


258 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


Wlien, on the following morning, Captain Horn per- 
ceived far away to the south a steamer which Captain 
Hagar, standing by with a glass to his eye, declared 
to be none other than his old vessel, the BunJcery 
Beacon , and when, not long afterwards, he made out 
a smaller vessel, apparently keeping company with 
the BunJcery Beacon , with another steamer lying off 
to the eastward, he was absolutely amazed and con- 
founded. He could not comprehend the state of 
affairs. What was the BunJcery Beacon doing down 
south, when by this time she ought to be far away to 
the east, if she were running away with the treasure) 
and what were those two other vessels keeping so close 
to her? 

He could not imagine what they could be, unless, 
indeed, they were her pirate consorts. “If that’s the 
case,” thought Captain Horn, but saying no word to 
any one, “this is not a part of the sea for my wife to 
sail upon ! ” 

Still, he knew nothing, and he could decide upon 
nothing. He could not be sure that one of those ves- 
sels was not the yacht which had sailed from Kingston 
with Mrs. Cliff and Burke and Shirley on board. And 
so the Monterey did not turn back, but steamed on 
slowly toward the distant steamers. 


259 


CHAPTER XXIX 

THE a VITTORIO ” FROM GENOA 

When Captain Horn on the Monterey perceived that 
one of the vessels he had sighted was steaming north- 
ward with the apparent intention of meeting him, his 
anxieties greatly increased. He could think of no 
righteous reason why that vessel should come to meet 
him. He had made out that this vessel, with the two 
others, had been lying to. Why should it not wait for 
him if it wished to speak with him? The course of 
this stranger looked like mischief of some sort, and the 
captain could think of no other probable mischief than 
that which had been practised upon the Dunkery 
Beacon. 

The steamer which he now commanded carried a 
treasure far more valuable than that which lay in the 
hold of the Dunkery , and if she had been a swifter vessel 
he would have turned and headed away for safety at 
the top of her speed. But he did not believe she could 
outsail the steamer which was now approaching, and 
safety by flight was not to be considered. 

There was another reason which determined him 
not to change his course. The observers on the Mon- 
terey had now decided that the small vessel to the west- 
260 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


ward of the Dunkery Beacon was very like a yacht, 
and the captain thought that if there was to be trouble 
of any sort, he would like to be as near Shirley and 
Burke as possible. Why that rapidly approaching 
steamer should desire to board him as the Dunkery 
Beacon had been boarded, he could not imagine, unless 
it was supposed that he carried part of the treasure. 
But he did not waste any time on conjectures. It was 
not likely that this steamer carried a cannon, and if 
she intended to attack the Monterey , it must be by 
boarding her— probably by the same stratagem which 
had been practised before. 

But Captain Horn determined that no man, upon 
any mission whatever, should put his foot upon the 
deck of the Monterey if he could prevent it. Since he 
had taken on board Captain Hagar and his men, he 
had an extraordinarily large crew, and on the number 
of his men he depended for defence, for it was im- 
possible to arm them as well as the attacking party 
would probably be armed— if there should be an 
attacking party. 

Captain Horn now went to Edna and told her of 
the approaching danger, and, for the second time in 
his life, he gave her a pistol, and requested her to use 
it in any way she thought proper, if the need should 
come. He asked her to stay, for the present, in the 
cabin with her maid, promising to come to her again 
very shortly. 

Then he called all the available men together, and 
addressed them very briefly. It was not necessary to 
tell the crew of the Dunkery Beacon what dangers 
might befall them if the pirates should come upon 
them a second time, and the men he had brought with 
261 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


him from Vera Cruz now knew all about the previous 
affair, and that it would probably be necessary for 
them to stand up boldly for their own defence. 

The captain told his men that the only thing to be 
done was to keep the fellows on that approaching 
steamer from boarding the Monterey , whether they 
tried to do so by what might look like fair means or 
by foul means. All the firearms of every kind which 
could be collected were distributed around among 
those who it was thought could best use them, while 
the rest of the men were armed with belaying-pins, 
handspikes, hatchets, axes, or anything with which a 
blow could be struck, and they were ranged along the 
bulwarks on each side of the ship from bow to stern. 

The other steamer was now near enough for her 
name, Vittorio , to be read upon her bow. This and 
her build made the captain quite sure that she was 
from the Mediterranean, and without doubt one of 
the pirates of whom he had heard. He could see 
heads all along her rail, and he thought it possible 
that she might not care to practise any trick upon 
him, but might intend a bold and undisguised attack. 
She had made no signal, she carried no colors or flag 
of any kind, and he thought it not unlikely that, when 
she should be near enough, she would begin operations 
by a volley of rifle-shots from her deck. To provide 
against this danger, he made most of his men crouch 
down behind the bulwarks, and ordered all the others 
to be ready to screen themselves. A demand to lie to, 
and a sharp fusillade, might be enough to insure the 
immediate submission of an ordinary merchantman, 
but Captain Horn did not consider the Monterey a 
vessel of this sort. 


262 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


He now ran down to Edna, and was met by tier at 
the cabin door. She had had ideas very like his own. 
“I shouldn’t wonder if they would fire upon us,” she 
said, her face very pale, “and I want you to remember 
that you are most likely the tallest man on board. 
~No matter what happens, you must take care of your- 
self— you must never forget that ! ” 

“I will take care of you,” he said, with his arms 
about her, “and I will not forget myself. And now 
keep close, and watch sharply. I don’t believe they 
can ever board us— we’re too many for them ! ”' 

The instant the captain had gone, Edna called Maka 
and Cheditafa, the two elderly negroes who were the 
devoted adherents of herself and her husband. “I 
want you to watch the captain all the time,” she said. 
“If the people on that ship' fire guns, you pull him 
back if he shows himself. If any one comes near him 
to harm him, use your hatchets. Never let him out of 
your sight. Follow him close. Keep all danger from 
him.” 

The negroes answered in the African tongue,— they 
were too much excited to use English,— but she knew 
what they meant, and trusted them. To Mok, the 
other negro, she gave no orders. Even now he could 
speak but little English, and he was in the party 
simply because her brother Ralph— whose servant 
Mok had been— had earnestly desired her to take care 
of him until he should want him again, for this coal- 
black and agile native of Africa was not a creature 
who could be left to take care of himself. 

The Vittorio , which was now not more than a quarter 
of a mile away, and which had slightly changed her 
course, so that she was apparently intending to pass 
263 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


the Monterey , and continue northward contented with 
an observation of the larger vessel, was a very dan- 
gerous pirate ship, far more so than the one which had 
captured the Dunkery Beacon. She was not more dan- 
gerous because she was larger or swifter, or carried a 
more numerous or better-armed crew, but for the 
reason that she had on board a certain Mr. Banker, 
who had once belonged to a famous band of despera- 
does called the Rackbirds, well known along the 
Pacific coast of South America. He had escaped de- 
struction when the rest of his band were drowned in 
a raging torrent, and he had made himself extremely 
obnoxious and even dangerous to Mrs. Horn and to 
Captain Horn, when they were in Paris at a very 
critical time of their fortunes. 

This ex-Rackbird Banker had had but a very cloudy 
understanding of the state of affairs when he was en- 
deavoring to blackmail Mrs. Horn, and making stupid 
charges against her husband. He knew that the three 
negroes he had met in Paris in the service of Mrs. 
Horn had once been his own slaves, held, not by any 
right of law, but by brutal force, and he knew that 
the people with whom they were then travelling must 
have been in some way connected with his old com- 
rades, the Rackbirds. He had made bold attempts to 
turn this scanty knowledge to his own benefit, but had 
mournfully failed. 

In the course of time, however, he had come to 
know everything. The news of Captain Horns’ great 
discovery of treasure on the coast of Peru had gone 
forth to the public, and Banker’s soul had writhed in 
disappointed rage as he thought that he and his fel- 
lows had lived and rioted like fools, for months and 
264 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


months and months, hut a short distance from all 
these vast hoards of gold. This knowledge almost 
maddened him as he brooded over it by night and by 
day. When he had been set free from the French 
prison to which his knavery had consigned him, 
Banker gave himself up, body and soul, to the con- 
sideration of the treasure which Captain Horn had 
brought to France from Peru. He considered it from 
every possible point of view, and when at last he 
heard of the final disposition which it had been deter- 
mined to make of the gold, he considered it from the 
point of his own cupidity and innate rascality. 

He it was who devised the plan of sending out a 
swift steamer to overhaul the merchantman which was 
to carry the gold to Peru, and who, after consultation 
with the many miscreants whom he was obliged to take 
into his confidence and to depend upon for assistance, 
decided that it would be well to fit out two ships, so 
that if one should fail in her errand, the other might 
succeed. The steamers from Genoa and Toulon were 
fitted out and manned under the direction of Banker, 
but with the one which sailed from Marseilles he had 
nothing to do. This expedition was organized by men 
who had quarrelled with him and his associates, and 
it was through the dissension of the opposing parties 
in this intended piracy that the detectives came to 
know of it. 

Banker had sailed from Genoa, but the Toulon 
vessel had got ahead of him. It had sighted the Dun- 
leery Beacon before she reached Kingston. It had 
cruised in the Caribbean Sea until she came sailing 
down toward Tobago Island. It had followed her out 
into the Atlantic, and when the proper time came 
265 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


it had taken her— hull, engine, gold, and everything 
which belonged to her, except her captain and her 
crew— and had steamed away with her. 

Banker did not command the Vittorio , for he was 
not a seaman, but he commanded her captain, and, 
through him, everybody on board. He directed her 
course and her policy. He was her leading spirit and 
her blackest devil. 

It had been no part of Banker’s intentions to cruise 
about the South Atlantic and search for a steamer 
with black and white stripes running up and down 
her funnel. His plan of action was to be the same as 
that of the other pirate, and the Vittorio therefore 
steamed for Kingston as soon as she could manage to 
clear from Genoa. His calculations were very good 
ones, but there was a flaw in them, for he did not 
know that the Dunkery Beacon sailed three days be- 
fore her regular time. Consequently, the Vittorio was 
the last of the four steamers which reached Jamaica 
on business connected with the Incas’ treasure. 

The Vittorio did not go into Kingston harbor, but 
Banker got himself put on shore and visited the town. 
There he not only discovered that the Durikery Beacon 
had sailed, and that an American yacht had sailed after 
her, but that a steamer from Vera Cruz, commanded 
by Captain Horn, now well known as the discoverer 
of the wonderful treasure, had touched here, expect- 
ing to find the Dunkery Beacon in port, and had then, 
scarcely twelve hours before, cleared for Jamaica. 

The American yacht was a mystery to Banker. It 
might be a pirate from the United States, for all he 
knew. But he was very certain that Captain Horn had 
not left Kingston for any reason except to accompany 
266 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


and protect the Dunkery Beacon. If a steamer com- 
manded by this man, whom Banker now hated more 
than he hated anybody else in the world, should fall 
in and keep company with the steamer which was 
conveying the treasure to Peru, it might be a very 
hard piece of work for him or his partner in command 
of the vessel from Toulon to get possession of that 
treasure, no matter what means they might employ, 
but all Banker could do was to swear at his arch- 
enemy and his bad luck, and to get away south with 
all speed possible. If he could do nothing, he might 
hear of something. He would never give up until he 
was positive there was no chance for him. 

So he took the course that the Dunkery Beacon must 
have taken, and sailed down the coast under full head 
of steam. When at last he discovered the flag of his 
private consort hoisted over the steamer which carried 
the golden prize, and had gone on board the Dunkery 
Beacon and had heard everything, his Satanic delight 
blazed high and wild. He cared nothing for the yacht 
which hung upon the heels of the captured steamer, 
—it would not be difficult to dispose of that vessel,— 
but his turbulent ecstasies were a little dampened by 
the discovery of a large steamer bearing down from 
the north. This he instantly suspected to be the 
Monterey , which must have taken a more westerly 
course than that which he had followed, and which 
he had therefore passed without sighting. 

The ex-Backbird did not hesitate a moment as to 
what ought to be done. That everlastingly con- 
demned meddler, Horn, must never be allowed to put 
his oar into this business. If he were not content with 
the gold which he had for himself, he should curse the 
267 


MRS. CLIFF’S YACHT 


day that lie had tried to keep other people from get- 
ting the gold that they wanted for themselves. No 
matter what had to be done, he must never reach the 
Dunlcery Beacon— he must never know what had hap- 
pened to her. Here was a piece of work for the Vit- 
torio to attend to without the loss of a minute. 

When Banker gave orders to head for the ap- 
proaching steamer he immediately began to make 
ready for an attack upon her, and as this was to be a 
battle between merchant ships, neither of them pro- 
vided with any of the ordinary engines of naval war- 
fare, his plan was of a straightforward, old-fashioned 
kind. He would run his ship alongside the other, he 
would make fast, and then his men, each one with a 
cutlass and a pistol, should swarm over the side of the 
larger vessel, and cut down and fire until the beastly 
hounds were all dead or on their knees. If he caught 
sight of Captain Horn,— and he was sure he would 
recognize him, for such a fellow would be sure to push 
himself forward, no matter what was going on,— he 
would take his business into his own hands. He would 
give no signal, no warning. If they wanted to know 
what he came for, they would soon find out. 

Before he left Genoa he had thought that it was 
possible that he might make this sort of an attack 
upon the Durikery Beacon , and he had therefore pro- 
vided for it. He had shipped a number of grappling- 
irons with long chains attached, which were run 
through ring-bolts on his deck. With these and 
other appliances for making fast to a vessel alongside, 
Banker was sure he could stick to an enemy or a 
prize as long as he wanted to lie by her. 

Everything was now made ready for the proposed 
268 


MRS. CLIFF’S YACHT 


attack, and all along the starboard side of the Vittorio 
mattresses were hung in order to break the force of 
the shock when the two vessels should come together. 
Every man who could be spared was ordered on deck, 
and fully armed. The men who were to make fast to 
the other steamer were posted in their proper places, 
and the rest of his miscreants were given the very 
simple orders to get on board the Monterey the best 
way they could, and as soon as they could, and to cut 
down or shoot every man they met, without asking 
questions or saying a word. Whether or not it would 
be necessary to dispose of all the crew which Captain 
Horn might have on board, Banker had not deter- 
mined. But of one thing he was certain : he would 
leave no one on board of her to work her to the nearest 
port and give news of what had happened. One mis- 
take of that kind was enough to make, and his stupid 
partner, who had commanded the vessel from Toulon, 
had made it. 


269 


CHAPTER XXX 


THE BATTLE OF THE MERCHANT SHIPS 

When the Vittorio showed that in veering away from 
the Monterey she had done so only in order to make a 
sweep around to the west, and when she had headed 
south, and the mattresses lowered along her starboard 
side showed plainly to Captain Horn that she was 
about to attack him, and how she was going to do it, 
his first thought was to embarrass her by reversing 
his course and steering this way and that. But he 
instantly dismissed this idea. The pirate vessel was 
smaller and faster than his own, and probably much 
more easily managed, and, apart from the danger of a 
collision fatal to his ship, he would only protract the 
conflict by trying to elude her. He was so sure that 
he had men enough to beat down the scoundrels when 
they tried to board that he thought the quicker the 
‘ fight began, the better. If only he had Shirley and 
Burke with him ! he thought. But although they were 
not here, he had Edna to fight for, and that made 
three men of himself. 

With most of his men crouching behind his port 
bulwarks, and others protected by deck-houses, smoke- 
stack, and any other available devices against gun- 
270 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


shots, Captain Horn awaited the coming of the pirate 
steamer, which was steaming toward him as if it in- 
tended to run him down. As she came near, the Vit- 
torio slowed up, and the Monterey veered to starboard j 
but notwithstanding this precaution, and the fact that 
they sailed side by side for nearly a minute without 
touching, the two vessels came together with such 
force that the Monterey , high out of water, rolled over 
as if a great wave had struck her. As she rolled back, 
grappling-irons were thrown over her rail, and cables 
and lines were made fast to every available place 
which could be reached by eager hands and active 
arms. Some of the grappling-irons were immediately 
thrown off by the crew of the Monterey , but the chains 
of others had been so tightened as the vessel rolled 
back to an even keel that it was impossible to move 
them. 

The Monterey's rail was considerably higher than 
that of the Vittorio , and as none of the crew of the 
former vessel had shown themselves, no shots had yet 
been fired, but, with the activity of apes, the pirates 
tried to scramble over the side of the larger vessel. 
How followed a furious hand-to-hand combat. Blows 
rained down on the heads and shoulders of the assail- 
ants, some of whom dropped back to the deck of their 
ship, while others drew their pistols and fired right 
and left at the heads and arms they saw over the rail 
i of the Monterey. 

The pirate leaders were amazed at the resistance 
they met with. They had not imagined that Captain 
Horn had so large a crew, or that it was a crew which 
would fight. But these pirates had their blood up, 
and not one of them had any thought of giving up 
271 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


their enterprise on account of this unexpected resist- 
ance. Dozens of them at a time sprang upon the rail 
of their own vessel, and, with cutlass or pistol in one 
hand, endeavored to scramble up the side of the Mon- 
terey. But although the few who succeeded in crossing 
her bulwarks soon fell beneath the blows and shots of 
her crew, the attack was vigorously kept up, especially 
by pistol-shots. 

Whenever there was a chance, a pirate hand would 
be raised above the rail of the Monterey and a revolver 
discharged, and every few minutes there would be 
a rush to one point or another, and a desperate fight 
upon the rail. The engines of both vessels had been 
stopped, and the screaming and roaring of the escap- 
ing steam gave additional horror to this fearful battle. 
Not a word could be heard from any one, no matter 
how loudly it might be shouted. 

Whatever firearms were possessed by the men on 
the Monterey were used with good effect, but in this 
respect they were vastly inferior to the enemy. When 
they had fired their pistols and their guns, some of 
them had no more ammunition, and others had no 
opportunity to reload. The men of the Vittorio had 
firearms in abundance and pockets full of cartridges. 
Consequently it was not long before Captain Horn’s 
men were obliged to rely upon their hatchets, their 
handspikes, their belaying-pins, and their numbers. 

Banker was in a very furious state of mind. He 
had expected to board the Monterey without opposi- 
tion, and now he had been fighting long and hard, and 
not a man of his crew was on board the other vessel. 
He had soon discovered that there were a great many 
men on board the Monterey , but he believed that the 
272 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


real reason for the so far successful resistance was the 
fact that Captain Horn commanded them. 

Several times he mounted the upper deck of the 
Vittorio, and, with a rifle in hand, endeavored to get a 
chance to aim at the tall figure of which he now and 
then caught sight, and who he saw was directing every- 
thing that was going on. But every time he stood out 
with his rifle, a pistol -hall whizzed by him and made 
him j ump back. Whoever fired at him was not a good 
shot, but Banker did not wish to expose himself to any 
kind of a shot. Once he got a chance of taking aim at 
the captain from behind the smoke-stack, but at that 
moment the captain stepped back hurriedly out of 
view, as if somebody had been pulling him by the 
coat, and a ball rang against the funnel high above his 
own head. It was plain he was watched, and he would 
not expose himself. 

But that devil Horn must be killed, and he swore 
between his grinding teeth that he himself would do 
it. His men, many of them with bloody heads, were 
still fighting, swearing, climbing, and firing. Hone of 
them had been killed, except those who had gained 
the deck of the other vessel, but Banker did not be- 
lieve that they would be able to board the Monterey 
until its captain had been disposed of. If he could 
put a ball into that fellow, the fight would be over. 

Banker now determined to lead a fresh attack, in- 
stead of simply ordering one. If he could call to his 
men from the deck of the Monterey , they would follow 
him. The Vittorio lay so that her bow was somewhat 
forward of that of the Monterey , and as the rails at the 
bows of the two vessels were some distance apart, there 
was no fighting forward. The long boom of the fore- 
273 


MRS. CLIFF’S YACHT 


mast of the Vittorio stretched over her upper deck, 
and, crouching low, Banker cut all the lines which 
secured it. Then, with a quick run, he seized the long 
spar near its outer end, and thus swinging it out until 
it struck the shrouds, he found himself dangling over 
the forward deck of the Monterey , upon which he 
quickly dropped. 

It so happened that the fight was now raging aft, 
and for a moment Banker stood alone, looking about 
him. He believed his rapid transit through the air 
had not been noticed. He would not call upon his 
men to follow, as he had intended. Without much 
fear of detection, he would slip quietly behind the crew 
of the Monterey , and take a shot at Captain Horn the 
moment he laid eyes on him. Then he could shout 
out to his men to some purpose. 

Banker moved on a few steps,— not too cautiously, 
for he did not wish to provoke suspicion, — when sud- 
denly a hand was placed upon his chest. There was 
nobody in front of him, but there was the hand, and a 
very big one it was, and very black. Like a flash 
Banker turned, and beheld himself face to face with 
the man Mok, the same chimpanzee-like negro who 
had been his slave, and with whom in the streets of 
Paris he had once had a terrible struggle, which had 
resulted in his capture by the police and his imprison- 
ment. Here was that same black devil again, his arms 
about him as if they had been chain- cables on a 
windlass. 

Banker had two pistols, but he had put them in his 
pockets when he made his swing upon the boom, and 
he had not yet drawn them, and now his arms were 
held so tightly to his sides that he could not get at his 
274 


MRS. CLIFF’S YACHT 


weapons. There was no one near. Banker was wise 
enough not to call out or even to swear an oath, and 
Mok had apparently relapsed into the condition of 
the speechless savage beast. With a wrench which 
might have torn an ordinary limb from its socket, 
Banker freed his left arm, but a black hand had 
grasped it before he could reach his pistol. 

Then there was a struggle— quick, hard, silent, and 
furious, as if two great cobras were writhing together, 
seeking each other’s death. Mok was not armed. 
Banker could not use knife or pistol. They stumbled, 
they went down on their knees, they rose and fell to- 
gether against the rail. Instantly Banker, with his 
left arm and the strength of his whole body, raised 
the negro to the rail and pushed him outward. The 
action was so sudden, the effort of the maddened 
pirate was so great, that Mok could not resist it— he 
went over the side. But his hold upon Banker did 
not relax even in the moment when he felt himself 
falling, and his weight was so great, and the impetus 
was so tremendous, that Banker could not hold back, 
and followed him over the rail. Still clutching each 
other tightly, the two disappeared with a splash into 
the sea. 

Fears were beginning to steal into the valiant heart 
of Captain Horn. The pirates were so well armed, 
they kept up such a savage fire upon his decks, that 
although their shots were sent at random, several men 
had been killed, and others— he knew not how many 
—wounded, and he feared his crew, ordinary sailors 
and not accustomed to such savage work as this, might 
consider the contest too unequal, and so lose heart. 
If that should be the case, the affair would be finished. 

275 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


But there was still one means of defence on which 
he thought he might rely to drive off the scoundrels. 
The Monterey had been a cotton-ship, and she was 
provided with hose by which steam could be thrown 
upon her cargo in case of fire, and Captain Hagar had 
undertaken to try to get this into condition to use 
upon the scoundrels who were endeavoring to board 
the vessel. By this time two heavy lines of hose had 
been rigged and attached to the boiler, and the other 
ends brought out on deck, one forward and the other 
amidships. 

Captain Hagar was a quiet man, and in no way a 
fighter, but now he seemed imbued with a reckless 
courage, and, without thinking of the danger of ex- 
posing himself to pistol or to rifle, he laid the nozle 
of his hose over the rail and directed it down upon the 
deck below. As soon as the hot steam began to pour 
upon the astonished pirates, there were yells and ex- 
ecrations, and when another scalding jet came in upon 
them over the forward bulwarks of the Monterey , the 
confusion became greater on the pirate ship. 

It was at this moment, as Edna, her face pale and 
her bright eyes fixed upon the upper deck of the 
Vittorio , stood with a revolver in her hand at the win- 
dow of her cabin, which was on deck, that her Swedish 
maid, trembling so much that she could scarcely stand, 
approached her and gave her notice that she must quit 
her service. Edna did not hear what she said. “ Are 
you there?” she cried. “Look out— tell me if you 
can see Captain Horn ! ” 

The frightened girl, scarcely knowing what she did, 
rushed from the cabin to look for Captain Horn, not 
so much because her mistress wanted information of 


276 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


him as because she thought to throw herself upon his 
protection. She believed that the captain could do 
anything for anybody, and she ran madly along the 
deck on the other side from that on which the battle 
was raging, and, meeting no one, did not stop until she 
had nearly reached the bow. Then she halted, looked 
about her, and in a moment was startled by hearing 
herself called by her name. There was no one near 
her. She looked up, she looked around. 

Then again she heard her name : “Sophee ! So- 
phee!” Now it seemed to come from the water, and 
looking over the low rail, she beheld a black head on 
the surface of the sea. Its owner was swimming about, 
endeavoring to find something on which he could lay 
hold, and he had seen the white cap of the maid above 
the ship’s side. Sophia and Mok were very good 
friends, for the latter had always been glad to wait 
upon her in every way possible, and now she forgot 
her own danger in her solicitude for the poor black 
man. 

“Oh, Mok, Mok!” she cried, “can’t you get out of 
the water ? Can I help you ? ” 

Mok shouted out one of his few English words. 
“Rope ! rope ! ” he said. Rut Sophia could see no 
rope except those which were fast to something, and 
in her terror she ran aft to call for assistance. 

There was now not so much noise and din. The 
steam was not escaping from the boilers of the Mon- 
terey , for it was needed for the hose, and there were 
no more shots fired from the Vittorio. The officers of 
the pirate ship were running here and there looking 
for Banker, that they might ask for orders, while the 
men were crowding together behind every possible 
277 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


protection, and rushing below to escape the terrible 
streams of scalding steam. 

Now that they could work in safety, the Monterey's 
men got their handspikes under the grappling-irons, 
and wrenched them from their holes, and leaning over 
the side, they cut the ropes which held them to the 
pirate ship. The two vessels now swung apart, and 
Captain Horn was on the point of giving orders to 
start the engines and steam ahead, when the maid 
Sophia seized him by the arm. “Mrs. Horn wants 
you,” she said, “and Mok’s in the water ! ” 

“Mok ! ” exclaimed the captain. 

“Yes, here ! here ! ” cried Sophia, and running to 
the side, she pointed to where Mok’s black head and 
waving arms were still circling about on the surface 
of the sea. 

When a rope had been cast to Mok, and he had 
been hauled up the side, the captain gave orders to 
start ahead, and rushed to the cabin where he had left 
Edna ; but it was not during that brief interval of 
thankfulness that he heard how she had recognized 
the Rackbird Banker on the pirate ship, and how she 
had fired at him every time he had shown himself. 

The Monterey started southward toward the [point 
where they had last seen the yacht and the DunJcery 
Beacon , and the pirate ship, veering off to the south- 
east, steamed slowly away. The people on board of 
her were looking everywhere for Banker, for without 
him they knew not what they ought to do. But if their 
leader ever came up from the great depth to which he 
had sunk with Mok’s black hands upon his throat, his 
comrades were not near the spot where, dead or alive, 
he floated to the surface. 


278 


CHAPTER XXXI 


“she backed ! ” 

When Captain Burke observed the Dunkery Beacon 
steaming in bis direction, and soon afterwards per- 
ceived a signal on this steamer to the effect that sbe 
wished to speak with the yacht, he began to hope that 
he was going to get out of his difficulties. The natural 
surmise was that as one of the pirates had gone to join 
another just arriving upon the scene, the Dunkery 
Beacon — the captain and crew of which must have 
turned traitors— was now coming to propose some 
arrangement, probably to give up Shirley if the yacht 
would agree to go its way and cease its harassing 
interference. 

If this proposition should be made, Burke and Mrs. 
Cliff, in conference, decided to accept it. They had 
done all they could, and would return to Kingston to 
report to Captain Horn what they had done, and what 
they had discovered. But it was not long before the 
people on the yacht began to wonder very much at the 
conduct of the great steamer which was now rapidly 
approaching them, apparently under full head of 
steam. 

The yacht was lying to, her engines motionless, and 
279 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


the Dunkery Beacon was coining ahead like a furious 
ram, on a course which, if not quickly changed, would 
cause her to strike the smaller vessel almost amidships. 
It became plainer and plainer every second that the 
Dunlcery did not intend to change her course, and that 
her object was to run down the yacht. 

Why the Dunlcery Beacon should wish to ram the 
Summer Shelter nobody on board the yacht considered 
for a moment, but every one, even Willy Croup, per- 
ceived the immediate necessity of getting out of the 
way. Burke sprang to the wheel, and began to roar 
his orders in every direction. His object was to put 
the yacht around, so that he could get out of the course 
of the JDunJcery Beacon , and pass her in the opposite 
direction to which she was going. But nobody on board 
seemed to be sufficiently alive to the threatening situa- 
tion, or to be alert enough to do what was ordered at 
the very instant of command ; and Burke, excited to 
the highest pitch, began to swear after a fashion en- 
tirely unknown to the two ladies and the members of 
the Synod. His cursing and swearing was of such a 
cyclonic and all-pervading character that some of 
those on board shuddered almost as much on account 
of his language as for fear of the terrible crash which 
was impending. 

“This is dreadful ! ” said one of the clergymen, 
advancing as if he would mount to the pilot-house. 

“Stop ! ” said Mr. Arbuckle, excitedly placing his 
hand upon the shoulder of the other. “Don’t inter- 
fere at such a moment. The ship must be managed.” 

In a very short time, although it seemed like long, 
weary minutes to the people on the yacht, her engines 
moved, her screw revolved, and she slowly moved 
280 


MRS. CLIFF’S YACHT 


around to leeward. If she could have done this half a 
minute sooner, she would have steamed out of the 
course of the Dunkery Beacon so that that vessel must 
have passed her, but she did not do it soon enough. 
The large steamer came on at what seemed amazing 
speed, and would have struck the yacht a little abaft 
the bow, had not Burke, seeing that a collision could 
not be avoided, quickly reversed his helm. Almost in 
the next second the two vessels came together, but it 
was the stem of the yacht which struck the larger 
steamer abaft the bow. 

The shock to the Summer Shelter was terrific, and 
having but little headway at the moment of collision, 
she was driven backward by the tremendous momen- 
tum of the larger vessel as if she had been a ball struck 
by a bat. Every person on board was thrown down 
and hurled forward. Mrs. Cliff extended herself flat 
upon the deck, her arms outspread ; and every clergy- 
man was stretched out at full length or curled up 
against some obstacle. The engineer had been thrown 
among his levers and cranks, bruising himself badly 
about the head and shoulders, while his assistant and 
Mr. Hodgson, who were at work below, were jammed 
among the ashes of the furnace as if they were trying 
to stop the draught with their bodies. Mr. Burdette 
was on the forward deck, and, if he had not tripped 
and fallen, would probably have been shot overboard ; 
and the sailing-master was thrown against the smoke- 
stack with such violence that for a few moments he 
was insensible. 

Burke, who was at the wheel, saw what was coming, 
and tried to brace himself so that he should not be 
impaled upon one of the handles ; but the shock was 
281 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


too much for him, and he pitched forward with such 
force that he came near going over the wheel and out 
of the window of the pilot-house. As soon as Captain 
Burke could recover himself, he scrambled back to his 
position behind the wheel. He had been dazed and 
bruised, but his senses quickly came to him, and he 
comprehended the present condition of affairs. 

The yacht had not only been forced violently back- 
ward, but had been veered around so that it now lay 
with its broadside toward the bow of the other 
steamer. In some way, either unwittingly by the en- 
gineer or by the violence of the shock, her engine had 
been stopped, and she was without motion, except the 
slight pitching and rolling occasioned by the collision. 
The Dunkery Beacon was not far away, and Burke saw, 
to his horror, that she was again moving forward. She 
was coming slowly, but if she reached the yacht in the 
latter’s present position, she would have weight and 
force enough to turn over the smaller vessel. 

Immediately Burke attempted to give the order to 
back the yacht. The instant performance of this order 
was the only chance of safety. But he had been thrown 
against the speaking-tube with such violence that he 
had jammed it and made it useless. If he pulled a 
bell the engineer might misunderstand. She must 
back ! She could not pass the other vessel if she went 
ahead. He leaned out of the door of the pilot-house 
and yelled downward to the engineer to back her. He 
yelled to somebody to tell the engineer to back her. 
He shouted until his shouts became screams, but nobody 
obeyed his orders— no one seemed to hear or to heed. 
But one person did hear. 

Willy Croup had been impelled out of the door of 
282 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


tlie saloon, and had slid forward on her knees and 
elbows until she was nearly under the pilot-house. 
At the sound of Burke’s voice, she looked up — she com- 
prehended that orders were being given to which no 
attention was paid. The wild excitement of the shout- 
ing captain filled her with an excitement quite as 
wild. She heard the name of the engineer, she heard 
the order, and, without taking time to rise to her feet, 
she made a bound in the direction of the engine- 
room. 

Thrusting her body half through the doorway, she 
yelled to the engineer, who, scarcely conscious of where 
he was or what he was doing, was pushing himself 
away from among his bars and rods. “Back her ! ” 
screamed Willy, and, without knowing what she said or 
did, she repeated this order over and over again, in a 
roaring voice which no one would have supposed her 
capable of, and accompanied by all the oaths which 
at that moment were being hurled down from the 
pilot-house. 

The engineer did not look up. He did not consider 
himself nor the situation. There was but one impres- 
sion upon his mind made by the electric flash of the 
order, backed by the following crash of oaths. In- 
stinctively he seized his lever, reversed the engine, 
and started the Summer Shelter backward. Slowly, 
very slowly, she moved. Burke held his breath. 

But the great steamer was coming on slowly. Her 
motion was increasing, but so was that of the yacht, 
and when, after some moments of almost paralyzing 
terror, during which Willy Croup continued to hurl 
her furious orders into the engine-room, not knowing 
they had been obeyed, the two vessels drew near each 
283 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


other, and the Dunkery Beacon crossed the bow of the 
Summer Shelter a very long biscuit- toss ahead. 

“Miss Croup / 7 said Mr. Litchfield, his hand upon 
her shoulder, “that will do ! The yacht is out of 
immediate danger . 77 

Willy started up. Her wild eyes were raised to 
the face of the young clergyman. The roar of her own 
invectives sounded in her ears. Tears poured from 
her eyes. 

“Mercy on me, Mr. Litchfield ! 77 she exclaimed, 
“what have I been saying ? 77 

“Never mind now, Miss Croup , 77 said he. “Don’t 
think of what you said. She backed ! 77 


284 


CHAPTER XXXII 


A HEAD ON THE WATER 

With her engines in motion and her wheel in the 
hands of Captain Burke, the Summer Shelter was in no 
danger of being run into by the Dunkery Beacon , for 
she was much the more easily managed vessel. 

As soon as they had recovered a moderate command 
of their senses, Burdette and Portman hurried below 
to find out what damage had been sustained by the 
yacht; but although she must have been greatly 
strained, and might be leaking through some open 
seams, the tough keelson of the well-built vessel, run- 
ning her length like a stiff backbone, had received 
and distributed the shock, and although her bowsprit 
was shivered to pieces and her cutwater splintered, 
her sides were apparently uninjured. Furniture, 
baggage, coils of rope, and everything movable had 
been pitched forward and heaped in disordered piles 
all over the vessel. A great part of the china had 
been broken. Books, papers, and ornaments littered 
the floors, and even the coal was heaped up in the 
forward part of the bunkers. 

Burke gave the wheel to Burdette and came down, 
when Mrs. Cliff immediately rushed to him. She was 
285 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


not hurt, but had been dreadfully shaken in body and 
mind. “Oh, what are we going to do ?’ 7 she cried. 
“They are wretched murderers ! Will they keep on 
trying to sink us ? Can’t we get away ? ” 

“We can get away whenever we please,” said Burke, 
his voice husky and cracked. “If it wasn’t for Shirley, 
I’d sail out of their sight in half an hour.” 

“But we can’t sail away and leave Mr. Shirley,” 
said she. “We can’t go away and leave him ! ” 

But little effort was made to get anything into order. 
Bruised heads and shoulders were rubbed a little, and 
all on board seemed trying to get themselves ready 
for whatever would happen next. Burke, followed by 
Portman, ran to the cases containing the rifles, and, 
taking them out, they distributed them, giving one to 
every man on board. Some of the clergymen objected 
to receiving them, and expostulated earnestly and 
even piteously against connecting themselves with any 
bloodshed. “Cannot we leave this scene of conten- 
tion?” some of them said. “Not with Shirley on that 
steamer,” said Burke, and to this there was no reply. 

Burke had no definite reason for thus arming his 
crew, but with such an enemy as the Durikery Beacon 
had proved herself to be lying to a short distance 
away, two other vessels, probably pirates, in the vicin- 
ity, and the strong bond of Shirley’s detention holding 
the yacht where she was, he felt that he should be 
prepared for every possible emergency. But what to 
do he did not know. It would be of no use to hail the 
Bunkery and demand Shirley. He had done that over 
and over again before that vessel had proved herself 
an open enemy. He stood with brows contracted, 
rifle in hand, and his eyes fixed on the big steamer 
286 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


ahead. The two other vessels he did not now con- 
sider, for they were still some miles away. 

Willy Croup was sitting on the floor of the saloon, 
sobbing and groaning, and Mrs. Cliff did not know 
what in the world was the matter with her. But Mr. 
Litchfield knew, and he knew also that it would be of 
no use to try to comfort her with any ordinary words 
of consolation. He was certain that she had not 
understood anything that she had said, not even, 
perhaps, the order to back the yacht, but the assertion 
of this would have made but little impression upon 
her agitated mind. But a thought struck him, and 
he hurried to Burke and told him quickly what had 
happened. Burke listened, and could not even now 
restrain a smile. “It’s just like that dear Willy 
Croup,” said he. “She’s an angel ! ” 

“Will you be willing,” said Mr. Litchfield, “to come 
and tell her that your orders could not have been 
forcibly and quickly enough impressed upon the en- 
gineer’s mind in any other way ? ” 

Without answering, Burke ran to where Willy was 
still groaning. “Miss Croup,” he exclaimed, “we owe 
our lives to you ! If you hadn’t sworn at the engineer, 
he never would have backed her in time, and we 
would all have been at the bottom of the sea ! ” 

Mrs. Cliff looked aghast, and Willy sprang to her 
feet. “Do you mean that, Mr. Burke? ” she cried. 

“Yes,” said he. “In such desperate danger you had 
to do it. It’s like a crack on the back when you’re 
choking. You were the only person able to repeat 
my orders, and you were bound to do it ! ” 

“Yes,” said Mr. Litchfield, “and you saved the 
ship ! ” 


287 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


Willy looked at him a few moments in silence, then, 
wiping her eyes, she said, “Well, you know more about 
managing a ship than I do, and I hope and trust I 7 11 
never be called upon to back one again ! ” 

Burke and most of the other men now gathered on 
deck, watching the Dunkery Beacon. She was still 
lying to, blowing off steam, and there seemed to be a 
good deal of confusion on her deck. Suddenly Burke 
saw a black object in the water near her starboard 
quarter. Gazing at it intently, his eyes began to 
glisten. In a few moments he exclaimed : “Look 
there ! It’s Shirley ! He’s swimming to the yacht ! 99 

Now everybody on deck was straining his eyes over 
the water, and Mrs. Cliff and Willy, who had heard 
Burke’s cry, stood with the others. “Is it Shirley, 
really?” exclaimed Mrs. Cliff. “Are you sure that’s 
his head in the water ? ” 

“Yes,” replied Burke, “there’s no mistake about it ! 
He’s taking his last chance, and has slipped over the 
rail without nobody knowing it.” 

“And can he swim so far ? ” gasped Willy. 

“Oh, he can do that,” answered Burke. “I’d steam 
up closer if I wasn’t afraid of attracting attention. If 
they’ll get sight of him they’ll fire at him, but he can 
do it if he’s let alone ! ” 

Not a word was now said. Scarcely a breath seemed 
to come or go. Everybody was gazing steadfastly 
and rigidly at the swimmer, who, with steady, powerful 
strokes, was making a straight line over the gently 
rolling waves toward the yacht. Although they did 
not so express it to themselves, the coming of that 
swimmer meant everything to the pale, expectant 
people on the Summer Shelter. If he should reach 
288 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


them, not only would tie be saved, but they could 
steam away to peace and safety. 

On swam Shirley, evenly and steadily, until he had 
passed nearly half the distance between the two ves- 
sels, when suddenly a knot of men were seen looking 
over the rail of the DunJcery. Then there was a com- 
motion. Then a man was seen standing up high, a 
gun in his hand. Willy uttered a stifled scream, and 
Mrs. Cliff seized her companion by the arm with such 
force that her nails nearly entered the flesh, and 
almost in the same instant there rang out from the 
yacht the report of eight rifles. 

Every man had fired at the fellow with the gun, 
even Burdette in the pilot-house. Some of the balls 
had gone high up into the rigging, and some had 
rattled against the hull of the steamer, but the man 
with the gun disappeared in a flash. Whether he had 
been hit or frightened, nobody knew. Shirley, startled 
at this tremendous volley, turned a quick backward 
glance, and then dived, but soon reappeared again, 
striking out as before for the yacht. 

“Now, then / 7 shouted Burke, “keep your eyes on 
the rail of that steamer ! If a man shows his head, 
fire at it ! 77 

If this action had been necessary, very few of the 
rifles in the hands of the members of the late Synod 
would have been fired, for most of them did not know 
how to recharge their weapons. But there was no 
need even for Burke to draw a bead on a pirate head, 
for now not a man could be seen on the DunJcery Bea- 
con. They had evidently been so surprised and 
astounded by a volley of rifle-shots from this pleasure 
yacht, which they had supposed to be as harmless as 
289 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


a floating log, that every man on deck had crouched 
behind the bulwarks. 

Now Burke gave orders to steam slowly forward, 
and for everybody to keep covered as much as possi- 
ble $ and when, in a few minutes, the yacht’s engine 
stopped, and Shirley swam slowly around her stern, 
there was a rush to the other side of the deck, a life- 
preserver was dropped to the swimmer, steps were let 
down, and the next minute Shirley was on deck, 
Burke’s strong arm fairly lifting him in over the rail. 
In a few moments the deck of the yacht was the scene 
of wild and excited welcome and delight. Each 
person on board felt as if a brother had suddenly 
been snatched from fearful danger and returned to 
their midst. 

“I can’t tell you anything now,” said Shirley. 
“Give me a dram, and let me get on some dry 
clothes. And now all of you go and attend to what 
you’ve got to do. Don’t bother about that steamer. 
She’ll go down in half an hour ! She’s got a big hole 
stove in her bow ! ” 

With a cry of surprise, Burke turned and looked out 
at the Bunkery Beacon. Even now she had keeled 
over to starboard so much that her deck was visible, 
and her head was already lower than her stern. 
“She’ll sink,” he cried, “with all that gold on board ! ” 

“Yes,” said Shirley, turning with a weak smile as 
he made his way to the cabin, accompanied by Mr. 
Hodgson, “she’ll go down with every bar of it ! ” 

There was great commotion now on the Dunkery 
Beacon. It was plain that the people on board of her 
had discovered that it was of no use to try to save the 
vessel, and they were lowering her boats. Burke and 
290 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


his companions stood and watched for some minutes. 
“ What shall we do ! ” exclaimed Mr. Arbuckle, ap- 
proaching Burke. “Can we offer those unfortunate 
wretches any assistance f ” 

“All we can do/ 7 said Burke, “is to keep out of 
their way. I wouldn’t trust one of them within pistol- 
shot.” 

Now Shirley reappeared on deck. He had had 
his dram, and had changed his clothes. “You’re 
right,” said he. “They ’re a set of pirates, every man 
of them ! If we should take them on board, they’d 
cut all our throats. They’ve got boats enough, and 
the other pirates can pick them up. Keep her off, 
Burke. That’s what I say ! ” 

There was no time now for explanations or for any 
story to be told, and Burke gave orders that the yacht 
should be kept away from the sinking steamer and her 
boats. Suddenly Burdette, from the pilot-house, sung 
out that there was a steamer astern, and the eyes which 
had been so steadfastly fixed upon the Durikery Beacon 
now turned in that direction. There they saw, less 
than a mile away, a large steamer coming down from 
the north. 

Burke’s impulse was to give orders to go ahead at 
full speed, but he hesitated, and raised his glass to his 
eye. Then in a few moments he put down his glass, 
turned around, and shouted: “That’s the Monterey! 
The Monterey and Captain Horn ! ” 


291 


CHAPTER XXXIII 


11° 30' 19" NORTH LATITUDE BY 56° HP 49" WEST 
LONGITUDE 

The announcement of the approach of Captain Horn 
created a sensation upon the Summer Shelter almost 
equal to that occasioned by any of the extraordinary 
incidents which had occurred upon that vessel. Burke 
and Shirley were wild with delight at the idea of 
meeting their old friend and commander. Willy 
Croup had never seen Captain Horn, but she had 
heard so much about him that she considered him in 
her mind as a being of the nature of a heathen deity 
who rained gold upon those of whom he approved, 
and utterly annihilated the unfortunates who incurred 
his displeasure. 

As for Mrs. Cliff, her delight in the thought of meet- 
ing Captain Horn, great as it was, was overshadowed 
by her almost frantic desire to clasp once more in her 
arms her dear friend Edna. The clergymen had heard 
everything that the Summer Shelter people could tell 
them about Captain Horn and his exploits, and each 
man of them was anxious to look into the face and 
shake the hand of the brave sailor, whom they had 
learned to look upon as a hero, and one or two of 
292 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


them thought that it might be proper, under the cir- 
cumstances, to resume their clerical attire before the 
interview. But this proposition, when mentioned, 
was discountenanced. They were here as sailors to 
work the yacht, and they ought not to be ashamed to 
look like sailors. The yacht was now put about and 
got under headway, and slowly moved in the direction 
of the approaching steamer. 

When Captain Horn had finished the fight in which 
he was engaged with the Vittorio , and had steamed 
down in the direction of the two other vessels in the 
vicinity, it was not long before he discovered that one 
of them was an American yacht. Why it and the 
Dunkery Beacon should be lying there together he 
could not even imagine, but he was quite sure that 
this must be the vessel owned by Mrs. Cliff, and com- 
manded by his old shipmate Burke. 

When at last the Monterey and the Summer Shelter 
were lying side by side within hailing distance, and 
Captain Horn had heard the stentorian voice of Burke 
roaring through his trumpet, he determined that he 
and Edna would go on board the yacht, for there were 
dead men and wounded men on his own vessel, and 
the condition of his deck was not such as he would 
wish to be seen by Mrs. Cliff and whatever ladies 
might be with her. 

When Captain Horn and his wife, with Captain 
Hagar, rowed by four men, reached the side of the 
Summer Shelter , they were received with greater honor 
and joy than had ever been accorded to an admiral 
and his suite. The meeting of the five friends was as 
full of excited affection as if they were not now stand- 
ing in the midst of strange circumstances, and, per- 
293 


MRS. CLIFF’S YACHT 

haps, many dangers which none of them really under- 
stood. 

Captain Horn seized the first opportunity which 
came to him to ask the question, “ What’s the matter 
with your yacht? You seem to have had a smash-up 
forward.” 

“ Yes,” said Burke, “there’s been a collision. Those 
beastly hounds tried to run us down. But we caught 
her squarely on her bow.” 

At this moment the conversation was interrupted 
by a shout from Captain Hagar, who had taken notice 
of nobody on the yacht, but stood looking over the 
water at his old ship. “What’s the matter,” he cried, 
“with the Dunkery Beacon ? Has she sprung a leak? 
Are those the pirates still on board ? ” 

Captain Horn and the others quickly joined him. 
“Sprung a leak ! ” cried Shirley. “She’s got a hole in 
her bow as big as a barrel. I’ve been on board of 
her, but I can’t tell you about that now. There’s no 
use to think of doing anything. Those are bloody 
pirates that are lowering the boats, and we can’t go 
near them. Besides, you can see for yourself that 
that steamer is settling down by the head as fast as 
she can.” 

Captain Horn was now almost as much excited as 
the unfortunate commander of the Dunkery Beacon. 
“Where’s that gold?” he cried. “Where is it 
stowed ? ” 

“It is in the forward hold, with a lot of cargo on 
top of it ! ” groaned Captain Hagar. 

Shirley now spoke again. “Don’t think about the 
gold!” he said. “I kept my eyes opened and my 
ears sharpened when I was on board, and although I 
294 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


didn’t understand all their lingo, I knew what they 
were at. When they found there was no use pumping 
or trying to stop the leak, they tried to get at that 
gold. But they couldn’t do it. The water was coming 
in right there, and the men could not rig up the 
tackle to move the cargo. They were all wild when 
I left.” 

Captain Horn said no more, but stood with the 
others, gazing at the Dunkery Beacon. But Captain 
Hagar beat his hands upon the rail, and declared over 
and over again that he would rather never have seen 
the ship again than to see her sink there before his 
eyes, with all that treasure on board. The yacht lay 
near enough to the Dunkery Beacon for Captain Hagar 
to see plainly what was going on on his old ship, with- 
out the aid of a glass. With eyes glaring madly over 
the water, he stood leaning upon the rail, his face pale, 
his whole form shaking as if he had a chill. Every 
one on the deck of the yacht stood near him, but 
no one said anything. This was no time for ask- 
ing questions or making explanations. 

The men on the Dunkery Beacon were hurrying to 
leave the vessel. One of the starboard boats was al- 
ready in the water, with too many men in her. The 
vessel had keeled over so much that there seemed to 
be difficulty in lowering the boats on the port side. 
Everybody seemed rushing to starboard, and two 
other boats were swinging out on their davits. Every 
time the bow of the steamer rose and fell upon the 
swell, it seemed to go down a little more and up a 
little less, and the deck was slanted so much that the 
men appeared to slide down to the starboard bul- 
warks. 


295 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


Now the first boat pushed off from the sinking ship, 
and the two others, both crowded, were soon pulling 
after her. It was not difficult to divine their inten- 
tions. The three boats headed immediately for the 
northeast, where, less than two miles away, the Vittorio 
could be plainly seen. 

At this moment Captain Hagar gave a yell. He 
sprang back from the rail, and his eyes fell upon a rifle 
which had been laid on a bench by one of the clergy- 
men. He seized it and raised it to his shoulder, but 
in an instant Captain Horn took hold of it, pointing 
it upward. “What are you going to do?” he said. 
“Captain, you don’t mean to fire at them ! ” 

“Of course I mean it ! ” cried Captain Hagar. 
“We’ve got them in a bunch. We must follow them 
up and shoot them down like rats ! ” 

“We’ll get up steam and run them down ! ” shouted 
Burke. “We ought to sink them, one boat after an- 
other, the rascally pirates ! They tried to sink us ! ” 
“No, no,” said Captain Horn, taking the gun from 
Captain Hagar, “we can’t do that. That’s a little too 
cold-blooded. If they attack us, we’ll fight them, but 
we can’t take capital punishment into our own hands.” 

Now the excited thoughts of Captain Hagar took 
another turn. “Lower a boat ! Lower a boat ! ” he 
cried. “Let me be pulled to the Dunkery! Every- 
thing I own is on that ship. The pirates wouldn’t let 
me take anything away. Lower a boat ! I can get 
into my cabin.” 

Shirley now stepped to the other side of Captain 
Hagar. “It’s no use to think of that, captain,” he 
said. “It would be regular suicide to go on board 
that vessel. Those fellows were afraid to stay another 
296 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


minute. She’ll go down before yon know it. Look 
at her bows now ! ” 

Captain Hagar said no more, and the little com- 
pany on the deck of the yacht stood, pale and silent, 
gazing out over the water at the Durikery Beacon. 
Willy Croup was crying, and there were tears in the 
eyes of Mrs. Cliff and Edna. In the heart of the latter 
was deep, deep pain, for she knew what her husband 
was feeling at that moment. She knew it had been 
the high aim of his sensitive and honorable soul that 
the gold for which he had labored so hard and dared 
so much should safely reach, in every case, those to 
whom it had been legally adjudged. If it should fail 
to reach them, where was the good of all that toil and 
suffering ? He had, in a measure, taken upon himself 
the responsibility of the safe delivery of that treasure, 
and now here he was standing, and there was the 
treasure sinking before his eyes. As she stood close 
by him, Edna seized her husband’s hand and pressed 
it. He returned the pressure, but no word was 
said. 

How the BunJcery Beacon rolled more heavily than 
she had done yet, and as she went down in the swell 
it seemed as if the water might easily flow over her 
forward bulwarks, and her bow came up with diffi- 
culty, as if it were sticking fast in the water. Her 
masts and funnel were slanting far over to starboard, 
and when, after rising once more, she put her head 
again into the water, she dipped it in so deep that 
her rail went under and did not come up again. Her 
stern seemed to rise in the air, and, at the same time, 
the sea appeared to lift itself up along her whole 
length. Then, with a dip forward of her funnel and 
297 


MRS. CLIFF’S YACHT 


masts, she suddenly went down out of sight, and the 
water churned and foamed and eddied about the 
place where she had been. The gold of the Incas 
was on its way to the bottom of the unsounded sea. 

Captain Hagar sat down upon the deck and covered 
his face with his hands. Ho one said anything to him 
—there was nothing to say. The first to speak was 
Mrs. Cliff. “ Captain Horn / 7 said she, her voice so 
shaken by her emotion that she scarcely spoke above 
a whisper, “we did everything we could, and this is 
what has come of it ! 77 

“Everything ! 77 exclaimed Captain Horn, suddenly 
turning toward her. “You have done far more than 
could be expected by mortals ! And now , 77 said he, 
turning to the little party, “don 7 t let one of us grieve 
another minute for the sinking of that gold. If any- 
body has a right to grieve, it 7 s Captain Hagar, here. 
He 7 s lost his ship. But many a good sailor has lost his 
ship, and lived and died a happy man after it. And as 
to the cargo you carried, my mate , 77 said he, “you 
would have done your duty by it just the same whether 
it had been pig-lead or gold ; and when you have done 
your duty, there 7 s the end of it ! 77 

Captain Hagar looked up, rose to his feet, and after 
gazing for a second in the face of Captain Horn, he 
took his extended hand. “You 7 re a good one ! 77 said 
he, “but you 7 re bound to agree that it 7 s tough ! 
There 7 s no getting around that. It 7 s all-fired tough ! 77 

“Burke , 77 said Captain Horn, quickly, glancing up 
at the noonday sun, “put her out there near the 
wreckage, and take an observation . 77 

It was shortly after this that Mr. Portman, the sail- 
ing-master, came aft and reported the position of the 
298 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


yacht to be 11° 30' 19" north latitude by 56° 10' 49" 
west longitude. 

“What’s the idea/’ said Burke to Captain Horn, 
“of steering right to the spot? Do you think there’ll 
ever be a chance of getting at it? ” 

Captain Horn was marking the latitude and longi- 
tude in his note-book. “Can’t say what future ages 
may do in the way of deep-sea work/’ said he, “but 
I ’d like to put a dot on my chart that will show where 
the gold went down.” 

Nothing could be more unprofitable for the shaken 
and disturbed spirits of the people on the Summer 
Shelter than to stand gazing at the few pieces of wood 
and the half-submerged hen-coop which floated above 
the spot where the Dunkery Beacon had gone down, or 
to look out at the three boats which the pirates were 
vigorously rowing toward the steamer in the distance, 
and this fact strongly impressed itself upon the prac- 
tical mind of Mrs. Cliff. “Captain Horn,” said she, 
“is there any reason why we should not go away ? ” 

“None in the world,” said he, “and there’s every 
reason why your vessel and mine should get under 
headway as soon as possible. Where are you bound 
for now ? ” 

“Wherever you say, captain,” she answered. “This 
is my ship, and Mr. Burke is my captain, but we want 
you to take care of us, and you must tell us where we 
should go.” 

“We’ll talk it over,” said he, and calling Burke and 
Captain Hagar, a consultation was immediately held, 
and it did not take long to come to a decision when 
all concerned were of the same mind. 

It was decided to set sail immediately for Kingston, 
299 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


for each vessel had coal enough, with the assistance of 
her sails, to reach that port. Mrs. Cliff insisted that 
Edna should not go back to the Monterey , and Captain 
Horn agreed to this plan, for he did not at all wish 
any womankind on the Monterey in her present con- 
dition. The yacht had been found to be perfectly 
seaworthy, and although a little water was coming 
in, her steam-pump easily disposed of it. Edna ac- 
cepted Mrs. Cliff’s invitation, provided her husband 
would agree to remain on the yacht, and, somewhat 
to her surprise, he was perfectly willing to do this. 
The idea had come to him that the best thing for all 
parties, and especially for the comfort and relief of 
the mind of Captain Hagar, was to put him in com- 
mand of a ship and give him something to think 
about other than the loss of his vessel. 

While they were talking over these matters, and 
making arrangements to send to the Monterey for 
Edna’s maid and some of her baggage, Captain Horn 
sought Burke in his room. “I want to know,” said 
he, “what sort of a crew you’ve got on board this 
yacht. One of them— a very intelligent-looking 
man, by the way, with black trousers on— came up to 
me just now and shook hands with me, and said he 
was ever so much pleased to make my acquaintance, 
and hoped he would soon have some opportunities of 
conversation with me. That isn’t the kind of seaman 
I’m accustomed to ! ” 

Burke laughed. “It’s the jolliest high-toned, up- 
per-ten crew that ever swabbed a deck or shovelled 
coal. They’re all ministers.” 

“Ministers ! ” ejaculated Captain Horn, absolutely 
aghast. Then Burke told the story of the Synod. 

300 


MRS. CLIFF’S YACHT 


Captain Horn sank into a chair, leaned back, and 
laughed until the tears ran down his cheeks. 

“I didn’t suppose,” he said presently, “that any- 
thing could make me laugh on a day like this, but the 
story of those Synod gentlemen has done it ! But, 
Burke, there’s no use of their serving as seamen any 
longer. Let them put on their black clothes and be 
comfortable and happy. I’ve got a double crew on 
board the Monterey , and can bring over just as many 
men as are needed to work this yacht. I’ll go over 
myself and detail a crew, and then, when everything 
is made ready, I’ll come on board here myself. And 
after that I want you to remember that I’m a pas- 
senger, and haven’t anything to do with the sailing of 
this ship. You’re captain, and must attend to your 
own vessel, and I’m going to make it my business to 
get acquainted with all these clergymen, and with 
that lady I see with Mrs. Cliff. Who is she?” 

“By George ! ” exclaimed Burke, “she’s the leading 
trump of the world ! That’s Willy Croup ! ” 

There was no time then to explain why Willy was 
a leading trump, but Captain Horn afterwards heard 
the story of how she backed the ship, and he did not 
wonder at Burke’s opinion. 

When the Summer Shelter , accompanied by the Mon- 
terey, had started northward, Burke stood by Shirley 
on the bridge. Mr. Burdette had a complete crew of 
able seamen under his command ; there was a cook 
in the kitchen, and stewards in the saloons, and there 
was a carpenter with some men at work at a spare 
spar which was to be rigged as a bowsprit. 

“I’m mighty glad to lay her course for home,” said 
Burke, “for I’ve had enough of it as things are ; but 
301 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


if things were not exactly as they are, I wouldn’t have 
enough of it.” 

“What do you mean?” said Shirley. 

“I mean this,” was the answer. “If this was my 
yacht, and there was no women on board, and no 
ministers, I would have put on a full head of steam, 
and I would have gone after those boats, and I would 
have run them down, one after another, and drowned 
every bloody pirate on board of them. It makes my 
blood boil to think of those scoundrels getting away 
after trying to run us down, and to shoot you ! ” 

“It would have served them right to run them 
down, you know,” said Shirley, “but you couldn’t do 
it, and there’s no use talking about it. It would have 
been a cold-blooded piece of business to run down a 
small boat with a heavy steamer, and I don’t believe 
you would have been willing to do it yourself when 
you got close on to them ! But the captain says if 
we get to Kingston in good time, we may be able to 
get a cable message to London, and set the authorities 
at every likely port on the lookout for the Vittorio .” 

The voyage of the Summer Shelter to Kingston was 
uneventful, but in many respects a very pleasant one. 
There had been a great disappointment, there had 
been a great loss, and, to the spirits of some of the 
party, there had been a great shock ; but every one 
now seemed determined to forget everything which 
had been unfortunate, and to remember only that they 
were all alive, all safe, all together, and all on their 
way home. 

The clergymen, relieved of their nautical duties, 
shone out brightly as good-humored and agreeable 
companions. Their hardships and their dangers had 
302 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


made them so well acquainted with each other, and 
with everybody else on board, and they had found it 
so easy to become acquainted with Captain and Mrs. 
Horn, and they all felt so much relieved from the load 
of anxiety which had been lifted from them, that they 
performed well their parts in making up one of the 
j oiliest companies which ever sailed over the South 
Atlantic. 

At Kingston the Summer Shelter and the Monterey 
were both left,— the former to be completely repaired 
and brought home by Mr. Portman, and the other to 
be coaled and sent back to Vera Cruz, with her officers 
and her crew,— and our whole party, including Cap- 
tain Hagar, sailed in the next mail -steamer for New 
York. 


303 


CHAPTER XXXIV 

PLAINTON, MAINE 

It was late in the summer, and Mrs. Cliff dwelt happy 
and serene in her native town of Plainton, Maine. 
She had been there during the whole warm season, for 
Plainton was a place to which people came to be cool 
and comfortable in summer-time, and if she left 
her home at all, it would not be in the months of foli- 
age and flowers. It might well be believed by any 
one who would look out of one of the tall windows of 
her drawing-room that Mrs. Cliff did not need to leave 
home for the mere sake of rural beauty. On the other 
side of the street, where once stretched a block of 
poor little houses and shops, now lay a beautiful park 
—the Grove of the Incas. 

The zeal of Mr. Burke and the money of Mrs. Cliff 
had had a powerful influence upon the minds of the 
contractors and landscape-gardeners who had this 
great work in hand, and the park, which really 
covered a very large space in the village, now ap- 
peared from certain points of view to extend for miles, 
so artfully had been arranged its masses of obstructing 
foliage, and its open vistas of uninterrupted view. 
The surface of the ground, which had been a little 
304 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


rolling, had been made more unequal and diversified, 
and over all the little hills and dells, and upon the 
wide, smooth stretches, there was a covering of bright 
green turf. It had been a season of genial rains, and 
there had been a special corps of workmen to attend 
to the grass of the new park. 

Great trees were scattered here and there, and many 
people wondered when they saw them, but these trees, 
oaks and chestnuts, tall hickories and bright, cheerful 
maples, had been growing where they stood since they 
were little saplings. The people of Plainton had 
always been fond of trees, and they had them in their 
side yards, and in their back yards, and at the front 
of their houses ; and when, within the limits of the 
new park, all these yards, and houses, and sheds, and 
fences had been cleared away, there stood the trees. 
Hundreds of other trees, evergreens and deciduous, 
many of them of good size, had been brought from 
the adjacent country on great wheels, which had 
excited the amazement of the people in the town, and 
planted in the park. 

Through the middle of the grounds ran a wide and 
turbulent brook, whirling around its rocks and spread- 
ing out into its deep and beautiful pools, and where 
once stood the Widow Casey’s little house,— which was 
built on the side of a bank, so that the Caseys went 
into the second story when they entered by the front, 
—now leaped a beautiful cataract over that very 
bank, scattering its spray upon the trunks of the two 
big chestnuts, one of which used to stand by the side 
of Mrs. Casey’s house, and the other at the front. 

In the shade of the four great oak-trees which had 
stood in William Hamilton’s back yard, and which he 
305 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


intended to cut down as soon as he had money enough 
to build a long cow-stable, — for it was his desire to go 
into the dairy business,— now spread a wide, trans- 
parent pool, half surrounded at its upper end by 
marble terraces, on the edges of which stood tall 
statues with their white reflections stretching far 
down into the depths beneath. Here were marble 
benches, and steps down to the water, and sometimes 
the bright gleams of sunshine came flittering through 
the leaves, and sometimes the leaves themselves came 
fluttering down and floated on the surface of the pool. 
And when the young people had stood upon the ter- 
races, or had sat together upon the wide marble steps, 
they could walk away, if they chose, through masses of 
evergreen shrubbery, whose quiet paths seemed to shut 
them out from the world. 

On a little hill which had once led up to Parson’s barn, 
but which now ended quite abruptly in a little preci- 
pice with a broad railing on its edge and a summer- 
house a little back, one could sit and look out over 
the stretch of bright green lawns, between two clumps 
of hemlocks, and over a hedge which concealed the 
ground beyond, along the whole length of the vista 
made by Becker Street, which obligingly descended 
slightly from the edge of the park so that its houses 
were concealed by the hemlocks, and then out upon 
the country beyond, and to the beautiful hills against 
the sky ; and such a one might well imagine, should 
he be a stranger, that all he saw was in the Grove of 
the Incas. Upon all the outer edges of this park there 
were masses of shrubbery, or little lines of hedge, 
irregularly disposed, with bits of grass opening upon 
the street, and here and there a line of slender iron 
306 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


railing with a group of statuary back of it, and so the 
people, when they walked that way, scarcely knew 
when they entered the park or when they left it. 

The home of Mrs. Cliff itself had seemed to her to 
be casting off its newness and ripening into the ma- 
tured home. Much of this was due to work which 
had been done upon the garden and surrounding 
grounds, but much more was due to the imperceptible 
influence of the Misses Thorpdyke. These ladies had 
not only taken with them to the house so many of the 
time -honored objects which they had saved from their 
old home, but they had brought to bear upon every- 
thing around them the courtly tastes of the olden 
time. 

Willy Croup had declared, as she stood in the hall 
gazing up at the staircase, that it often seemed to her, 
since she came back, as if her grandfather had been in 
the habit of coming down those stairs. “I never saw 
him,” she said, “and I don’t know what sort of stairs 
he used to come down, but there’s something about 
all this which makes me think of things far back and 
grand, and I know, from what I’ve heard of him, that 
he would have liked to come down such stairs.” 

Mrs. Horn and her husband had made a long visit 
to Mrs. Cliff, and they had departed early in the 
summer for a great property they had bought in the 
West, which included mountains, valleys, a canon, 
and such far-extending groves of golden fruit that 
Edna already called the captain the “Prince of 
Orange.” 

Edna’s brother, Ralph, had also been in Plainton. 
He had come there to see his sister and Captain Horn, 
and that splendid old woman Mrs. Cliff, but soon after 
307 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


he reached the town it might well have been supposed 
that it was Mr. Burke whom he came to visit. This 
worthy mariner and builder still lived in Plainton. His 
passion for an inland residence had again grown upon 
him, and he seemed to have given up all thoughts of 
the sea. He and Balph had royal times together, and 
if the boy had not felt that he must go with Captain 
Horn and his sister to view the wonders of the far 
West, he and Burke would have concocted some grand 
expedition intended for some sort of an effect upon 
the civilization of the world. 

But although Mrs. Cliff, for many reasons, had no 
present desire to leave her home, she did not relin- 
quish the enterprise for which the Summer Shelter had 
been designed. When Captain Hagar had gone to 
London and had reported to his owners the details of 
his dire and disastrous misfortune, he had been made 
the subject of censure and severe criticism ; and while 
no reason could be found why he should be legally 
punished for what had happened, he was made to 
understand that there was no ship for him in the gift 
of the house he had so long served. 

When Mrs. Cliff heard of this,— and she heard of it 
very soon, through Captain Horn,— she immediately 
offered Captain Hagar the command of the Summer 
Shelter , assuring him that her designs included cruises 
of charity in the North in summer, and in tropical 
waters in the winter-time, and that, of all men she 
knew of, he was the captain who should command her 
yacht. He was, indeed, admirably adapted to this 
service, for he was of a kind and gentle nature, and 
loved children, and he had such an observing mind 
that it frequently happened, when he had looked over 
308 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


a new set of passengers, and had observed their physi- 
cal tendencies, that he did not take a trip to sea at all, 
but cruised up the smooth, quiet waters of the Hudson. 

As soon as it could possibly be done, Captain Horn 
caused messages to be sent to many ports on the French 
and Spanish coast, and along the Mediterranean, in 
order that if the Vittorio arrived in any of these har- 
bors, her officers and men might be seized and held ; 
but it was a long time before there was any news of 
the pirate ship, and then she was heard of at Mogador, 
a port on the western coast of Morocco, where she had 
been sold, under very peculiar circumstances and for a 
very small price, by the men who had come there in 
her, and who had departed north at different times on 
trading-vessels which were bound for Marseilles and 
Gibraltar. 

More definite information was received of the third 
of the pirate vessels which had been fitted out to cap- 
ture the Peruvians’ treasure, for, as this vessel ap- 
proached the West Indies, she was overhauled by a 
Spanish cruiser, who, finding her manned by a suspi- 
cious crew and well supplied with firearms, had seized 
her as a filibuster, and had taken her into a Cuban 
port, where she still remained, with her crew in prison 
awaiting trial, or a tardy release, in case it became in- 
convenient to detain them longer. 

The other pirate vessel, on which Captain Hagar 
and his men had been placed when they were forced 
to leave the Durikery Beacon , finally reached George- 
town, British Guiana, where, after a long course of 
legal action, it was condemned and sold, and as much 
of the price as was left after costs had been paid was 
handed over to the owners of the JDunkery Beacon . 

309 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


Among the reasons which made Mrs. Cliff very glad 
to remain at Plainton was one of paramount impor- 
tance. She was now engaged in a great work which 
satisfied all her aspirations and desires to make herself 
able to worthily and conscientiously cope with her 
income. 

When, after the party on the Summer Shelter had 
separated at New York, and the ex-members of the 
Synod had gone to their homes, Mrs. Cliff and her 
party, which included Shirley as well as Captain Horn 
and his wife, had reached Plainton, their minds were 
greatly occupied with the subject of the loss of the 
Peruvians 7 share of the Incas 7 treasures. It was de- 
lightful for Mrs. Cliff and Willy to reach again their 
charming home, and their friends were filled with a 
pleasure which they could scarcely express to see and 
enjoy the beauties and the comforts with which Mrs. 
Cliff had surrounded herself ; but there was still upon 
them all the shadow of that great misfortune which 
had happened off the eastern coast of South America. 

News came to them of what had been said and done 
in London, and of what had been said and done, not 
only in Peru, but in other states of South America, in 
regard to the loss of the treasure, but nothing was said 
or done in any quarter which tended to invalidate 
their right to the share of the gold which had been 
adjudged to them. The portion of the treasure al- 
lotted to the Peruvian government had been duly 
delivered to its agents, and it was the fault of those 
agents, acting under the feverish orders of their su- 
periors, which had been the reason of its injudicious 
and hasty transportation and consequent loss. 

But although the ownership of the treasure which 
310 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 

was now in the safe possession of those to whom it had 
been adjudged was not considered a matter to be 
questioned or discussed, Mrs. Cliff was not satisfied 
with the case as it stood, and her dissatisfaction 
rapidly spread to the other members of the party. It 
pained her to think that the native Peruvians, those 
who might be considered the descendants of the Incas, 
would now derive no benefit from the discovery of 
the treasure of their ancestors, and she announced her 
intention to devote a portion of her wealth to the 
interests and advantage of these natives. 

Captain Horn was much impressed with this idea, 
and agreed that if Mrs. Cliff would take the manage- 
ment of the enterprise into her own hands, he would 
contribute largely to any plan which she might adopt 
for the benefit of the Peruvians. Edna, who now 
held a large portion of the treasure in her own right, 
insisted upon being allowed to contribute her share to 
this object, and Burke and Shirley declared that they 
would become partners, according to their means, in 
the good work. 

There was, of course, a great deal of talk and dis- 
cussion in regard to the best way of using the very 
large amount of money which had been contributed 
by the various members of the party, but before Cap- 
tain Horn and his wife left Plainton everything was 
arranged, and Mrs. Cliff found herself at the head of 
an important and well-endowed private mission to the 
native inhabitants of Peru. She did not make imme- 
diately a definite plan of action, but her first steps in 
the direction of her great object showed that she was 
a woman well qualified to organize and carry on the 
great work in the cause of civilization and en- 
311 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


lightenment which she had undertaken. She engaged 
the Rev. Mr. Hodgson and the Rev. Mr. Litchfield, 
both young men whose dispositions led them to 
prefer earnest work in new and foreign lands to the 
ordinary labors of a domestic parish, to go to Peru to 
survey the scene of the proposed work, and to report 
what, in their opinion, ought to be done, and how it 
should be undertaken. 

Mrs. Cliff, now in the very maturity of her mental 
and physical powers, felt that this great work was 
the most congenial task that she could possibly have 
undertaken, and her future life now seemed open be- 
fore her in a series of worthy endeavors in which her 
conscientious feelings in regard to her responsibilities, 
and her desire to benefit her fellow-beings, should be 
fully satisfied. As to her fellow- workers and those of 
her friends who thoroughly comprehended the nature 
of the case, there was a general belief that those in- 
habitants of Peru who were rightfully entitled to the 
benefits of the discovered treasure would, under her 
management and direction of the funds in her hands, 
receive far more good and advantage than they could 
possibly have expected had the treasure gone to the 
Peruvian government. In fact, there were those who 
said that had the Dunkery Beacon safely arrived in the 
port of Callao, the whole of the continent of South 
America might have been disturbed and disrupted by 
the immense overbalance of wealth thrown into the 
treasury of one of its states. 

It is true that Mrs. Cliffs plans and purposes did not 
entirely pass without criticism. “IPs all very well,” 
said Miss Nancy Shott to Mrs. Ferguson one morning 
when the latter had called upon her with a little 
312 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


basket of cake and preserves, “for Mrs. Cliff to be send- 
ing her money to the colored poor of South America, 
but a person who has lived as she has lived in days 
gone by ought to remember that there are poor people 
who are not colored, and who live a great deal nearer 
than South America.” Miss Shott was at work as 
she said this, but she could always talk when she 
was working. She was busy packing the California 
blankets, which Mrs. Cliff had given her, in a box for 
the summer, putting pieces of camphor rolled up in 
paper between their folds. “If she wanted to find 
people to give money to, she needn’t hire ministers 
to go out and hunt for them. There are plenty of 
them here, right under her nose, and if she doesn’t 
see them, it’s because she shuts her eyes wilfully and 
won’t look.” 

“But it seems to me, Miss Shott,” said Mrs. Fergu- 
son, “that Mrs. Cliff has done ever so much for the 
people of Plainton. For instance, there are those 
blankets. What perfectly splendid things they are ! 
—so soft and light, and yet so thick and warm ! 
They’re all wool, every thread of them, I have no 
doubt.” 

“All wool ! ” said Miss Shott. “Of course they are, 
and that’s the trouble with them. Some of these days 
they’ll have to be washed, and then they’ll shrink up 
so short that I suppose I’ll have to freeze either my 
chin or my toes. And as to her giving them to me, 
‘turn about’s fair play.’ I once j’ined in to give her a 
pair.” 

“Oh ! ” said Mrs. Ferguson. 

Mr. George Burke was now the only member of our 
little party of friends who did not seem entirely satis- 
313 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


fied with his condition and prospects. He made no 
complaints, but he was restless and discontented. He 
did not want to go to sea, for he vowed he had had 
enough of it, and he did not seem to find any satisfac- 
tion in a life on shore. He paid a visit to his mother, 
but he did not stay with her very long, for Plainton 
seemed to suit him better. But when he returned to 
his house in that town, he soon left it to go and spend 
a few days with Shirley. 

When he came back, Mrs. Cliff, who believed that 
his uneasy state of mind was the result of want of 
occupation and the monotonous life of a small town, 
advised him to go out West and visit Captain Horn. 
There was so much in that grand country to interest 
him and to occupy him, body and mind. But to this 
advice Mr. Burke stoutly objected. 

“Fm not going out there,” he said. “I’ve seen 
enough of Captain Horn and his wife. To tell you 
the truth, Mrs. Cliff, that’s what’s the matter with me.” 

“I don’t understand you,” said she. 

“It’s simply this,” said Burke. “Since I’ve seen so 
much of the captain and his wife, and the happiness 
they get out of each other, I’ve found out that the 
kind of happiness they’ve got is exactly the kind of 
happiness I want, and there isn’t anything else— 
money, or land, or orange groves, or steamships— that 
can take the place of it.” 

“In other words,” said Mrs. Cliff, with a smile, “you 
want to get married.” 

“You’ve hit it exactly,” said he. “I want a wife. 
Of course, I don’t expect to get exactly such a wife as 
Captain Horn has,— they’re about as scarce as buried 
treasure, I take it,— but I want one who will suit me 
314 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


and who is suited to me. That’s what I want, and I 
shall never be happy until I get her.” 

“I should think it would be easy enough for yon to 
get a wife, Mr. Burke,” said Mrs. Cliff. “You are in 
the prime of life, you have plenty of money, and I 
don’t believe it would be at all hard to find a good 
woman who would be glad to have you.” 

“That’s what my mother said,” said he. “When I 
was there she bored me from morning until night by 
telling me I ought to get married, and mentioning 
girls on Cape Cod who would be glad to have me. 
But there isn’t any girl on Cape Cod that I want. To 
get rid of them, I came away sooner than I intended.” 

“Well, then,” said Mrs. Cliff, “perhaps there is some 
one in particular that you would like to have.” 

“That’s it exactly,” said Burke. “There is some 
one in particular.” 

“And do you mind telling me who it is ? ” she asked. 

“Since you ask me, I don’t mind a bit,” said he. 
“It’s Miss Croup.” 

Mrs. Cliff started back astonished. “Willy Croup ! ” 
she exclaimed. “You amaze me ! I don’t think she 
would suit you.” 

“I’d like to know why not?” he asked quickly. 

“In the first place,” said she, “it’s a long time since 
Willy was a girl.” 

“That’s the kind I want,” he answered. “I don’t 
want to adopt a daughter. I want to marry a grown 
woman.” 

“Well,” said Mrs. Cliff, “Willy is certainly grown. 
But then, it doesn’t seem to me that she would be 
adapted to a married life. I am sure she has made 
up her mind to live single, and she hasn’t been accus- 
315 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


tomed to manage a house and conduct domestic affairs. 
She has always had some one to depend upon.” 

“ That’s what I like,” said he. “Let her depend on 
me. And as to management, you needn’t say any- 
thing to me about that, Mrs. Cliff. I saw her bounc- 
ing to the galley of the Summer Shelter , and if she 
manages other things as well as she managed the 
cooking business there, she’ll suit me.” 

“It seems so strange to me, Mr. Burke,” said Mrs. 
Cliff, after a few moments’ silence. “I never imagined 
that you would care for Willy Croup.” 

Mr. Burke drew himself forward to the edge of the 
chair on which he was sitting, he put one hand on 
each of his outspread knees, and he leaned forward, 
with a very earnest and animated expression on his 
countenance. “Now, look here, Mrs. Cliff,” he said, 
“I want to say something to you. When I see a young 
woman, brought up in the very bosom of the Sunday- 
school, and on the quarter-deck of respectability, and 
who never, perhaps, had a cross word said to her in 
all her life, or said one to anybody, judging from her 
appearance, and whose mind is more like a clean 
pocket-handkerchief in regard to hard words and 
rough language than anything I can think of,— when 
I see that young woman with a snow-white disposition 
that would naturally lead her to hymns whenever she 
wanted to raise her voice above common conversation, 
—when I see that young woman, I say, in a moment 
of life or death to her and every one about her, dash 
to the door of that engine-room and shout my orders 
down to that muddled engineer,— knowing I couldn’t 
leave the wheel to give them myself,— ramming them 
into him as if with the point of a handspike, yelling 
316 


MRS. CLIFFS YACHT 


out everything that I said, word for word, without 
picking or choosing, trusting in me that I knew what 
ought to be said in such a moment, and saying it after 
me, word for word, cursing, swearing, slamming down 
oaths on him just as I did, trusting in me all the time 
as to what words ought to be used, and just warming 
up that blasted engineer until sense enough came to 
him to make him put out his hand and back her,— 
then, Mrs. Cliff, I know that a woman who stands by 
me at a time like that will stand by me at any time, 
and that’s the woman I want to stand by. And now, 
what have you got to say? ” 

“All I have to say,” answered Mrs. Cliff, who had 
been listening intently to Mr. Burke’s extraordinary 
flow of words, “all I have to say is, if that’s the way 
you think about her, you ought to speak to her.” 

“Madam,” said Burke, springing to his feet, “that 
suits me. I would have spoken to her before, but I 
had my doubts about what you’d think of it. But 
now that I see you’re willing to sign the papers, what 
I want to know is, where will I be likely to find Miss 
Croup ? ” 

Mrs. Cliff laughed. “You are very prompt,” said 
she, “and I think you will find Willy in the little 
parlor. She was sewing there when I saw her last.” 

In less than a minute Mr. Burke stood before Willy 
Croup in the little parlor. “Miss Croup,” said he, “I 
want to ask you something.” 

“What is it? ” said Willy, letting her work drop in 
her lap. 

“Miss Croup,” said he, “I heard you swear once, and 
I never heard anybody swear better and with more 
conscience. You did that swearing for me, and now I 
317 


MRS. CLIFF’S YACHT 

want to ask you if you will be willing to swear for me 
again ? ” 

“No/’ said Willy, her cheeks flushing as she spoke, 
“no, I won’t ! It was all very well for you to tell me 
that I didn’t do anything wrong when I talked in that 
dreadful way to Mr. Maxwell, and for you to get the 
ministers to tell me that, as I didn’t understand what 
I was saying, of course there was no sin in it, but 
although I don’t feel as badly about it as I did, I some- 
times wake up in the night and fairly shiver when I 
think of the words I used that day. And I’ve made 
up my mind, no matter whether ships are to be sunk 
or what is to happen, I will never do that thing 
again, and I don’t want you ever to expect it of me.” 

“But, William Croup,” exclaimed Mr. Burke, for- 
getting in his excitement that the full form of her 
Christian name was not likely to be masculine, “that 
isn’t the way I want you to swear this time. What I 
want you to do is to stand up alongside of me in front 
of a minister and swear you’ll take me for your loving 
husband, to love, honor, and protect, and all the rest 
of it, till death do us part. Now, what do you say to 
that?” 

Willy sat and looked at him. The flush went out 
of her cheeks, and then came again, but it was a 
different kind of a flush this time, and the brightness 
went out of her eyes, and another light, a softer and a 
different light, came into them. “Oh ! is that what 
you want?” she said presently. “I wouldn’t mind 
that.” 


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